EFL owner claims he would 'NEVER' hire Roy Keane as manager because he would 'frighten the life' out... (original) (raw)

An EFL owner has claimed he would 'never' hire Roy Keane as his club's manager over fears of clashes between the pundit and the players.

Keane has made a name for himself in both Sky Sports and ITV punditry in recent years, retiring from playing in 2006 and taking up management before venturing into broadcast.

There has been speculation in recent months that the former Manchester United star is keen to return to management, though the level if he were to do so would be unclear.

He last managed over a decade ago, leaving his role as Ipswich manager in 2011 after a stint at Sunderland, while he also coached at the Republic of Ireland for a number of years.

Peterborough United boss Darragh MacAnthony, meanwhile, has ruled out the 52-year-old ever taking charge of his club due to his way of dealing with players.

An EFL owner has insisted he would 'never' employ Roy Keane to take charge of his side

Keane has become known for his brutal analysis and assessments as a pundit on Sky and ITV

Keane, who formerly led Sunderland and Ipswich, has not managed since leaving Ipswich in 2011

He told TalkSport: 'I love listening to him on ITV, I love all of that, but no way. I know he did phenomenally at Sunderland, he won promotion with them, they went on the run and won the league and got to the Premier League.

'But I think we have to look at this - and it drives me mad sometimes - generations today have changed from footballers 10, 15, 20 years ago.'

Darren Ferguson, son of Keane's former boss at United, Sir Alex Ferguson, is currently in charge of Peterborough, his fourth stint in charge of the club.

First appointed manager in 2007, he left in 2009, returned in 2011, and left again in 2015.

After a brief stint at Doncaster, he returned to the club in 2019, leaving in 2022, before rejoining again the following year.

'I said to Darren, my manager, the other day, "Darren, you could've said X to a player 15 years ago and he'd have no problem with it, you'd have given a slap down and the player would come in the next day and train magnificently", McAnthony continued.

'You did that to one of these young generation players now, they are, I'm not going to use the word weak, but they are a little bit fickle, a little bit fragile.

'And the player won't show up the next day, his agent will probably be ringing, the PFA will be on, they'll be worried about his mental health, they'll be worried about this, worried about that.

Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony (left) said that Keane would 'frighten the life' out of 'fickle' and 'fragile' players

Darren Ferguson (pictured), son of Keane's former Manchester United manager Sir Alex, is currently in charge of Peterborough

Keane's last job in coaching was as assistant manager of Nottingham Forest - a role he left in 2019

'It's very different now the way you deal with young people, the way I bring my children up is very different to how other people bring up their kids now. I'm trying to teach my children to have thicker skin.

'Roy Keane would frighten the life out of every player under the age of 23, in my opinion, in a football team.

'The average age of our team is 22, so they'd probably all stick in transfer requests after two weeks and he'd lose his rag with them.'

Keane's last coaching experience was in 2019, when he was briefly assistant manager at Nottingham Forest.