NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Football

New Ireland coach O'Neill defends Keane hiring

AP
9 Nov, 2013 04:55 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

DUBLIN (AP) Martin O'Neill's big task as the new Ireland coach will be to qualify the team for the 2016 European Championship. His first job seems to be convincing people he was right to hire the divisive Roy Keane as his deputy.

The 61-year-old Northern Irishman deployed plenty of his trademark charm and wit to deflect a roomful of skepticism that his surprise partnership with the mercurial Keane could work. He even jokingly played up the scenario that Keane would soon be bossing and bullying him.

When asked how quickly Keane had accepted his offer of employment, O'Neill said it took Keane "about 4 seconds. He was absolutely delighted with it. I said to him the roles that we would have. And he told me he would reverse those in about 10 minutes," O'Neill said to rising laughter in the press conference.

"That is not true," he added to clarify.

And O'Neill, known for his candor and analytical mind as both a coach and TV commentator, conceded that Keane brings a more emotional element into Ireland's new management team.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I don't intend to change Roy too much maybe make the occasional adjustment, if that's possible. And a little bit of volatility will do nobody any harm," he said.

For all the excitement at his appointment for the past decade O'Neill has been the fans' favorite to lead Ireland he could hardly have picked a higher-profile figure to be his assistant manager. The Football Association of Ireland kept Keane away from Saturday's news conference; he was reportedly sent to scout Irish players' performances at the Aston Villa-Cardiff match.

Ireland needed a new start after firing Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni, who alienated Irish fans with a defensive-minded, long-ball system that ended in failure to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

O'Neill, a former midfielder for Northern Ireland and Nottingham Forest, has spent a quarter-century building a strong reputation as a manager able to make the most of flawed, lackluster squads. But the former Celtic, Leicester and Aston Villa boss had been left without a management role since being sacked last year by Sunderland. Notably, he spent some of that time working alongside Keane as a TV analyst. His first test as Irish manager comes Nov. 15 in a home friendly versus Latvia.

But he faces a challenge to keep the spotlight from Keane, the former Manchester United and Ireland midfield star who has left a trail of management bust-ups in his wake. Keane became the most divisive figure in all of Irish sports in 2002 when he denounced Ireland's preparations for the World Cup, confronted then-manager Mick McCarthy about his competence, and was kicked off the team. Management failures and unhappy clubhouses at Sunderland and Ipswich followed. Most recently, his Unite mentor Alex Ferguson harshly criticized Keane's temperament in his autobiography.

"The hardest part of Roy's body is his tongue," Ferguson wrote.

O'Neill declined to comment on whether Ferguson's written criticisms were fair, saying he did "know enough about their spats and what led Roy to leave."

But O'Neill said his job was not "to change Roy Keane. Not at all. I want Roy Keane essentially the way he is. That's what I want. ... I think he's very, very keen, he's very excited by it, and he wants to do well. That's really enough for me."

When asked whether Keane would be his natural successor in the top Irish job, O'Neill deftly passed the question to FAI chief John Delaney sitting beside him.

"If we get to a major tournament, obviously we'll renew the contract," Delaney said. "I'll hope we're not appointing a (new) manager for a long, long time."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Football

All Whites

All Whites continue progress but fall late to Ukraine

10 Jun 10:55 PM
All Whites

All White Chris Wood has reached an unlikely Premier League peak – at age 33

10 Jun 07:08 PM
All Whites

All Whites stun Ivory Coast for notable win as Fifa World Cup countdown begins

08 Jun 02:09 AM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Football

All Whites continue progress but fall late to Ukraine

All Whites continue progress but fall late to Ukraine

10 Jun 10:55 PM

The All Whites will wonder what might have been, given the lapses for both Ukraine goals.

All White Chris Wood has reached an unlikely Premier League peak – at age 33

All White Chris Wood has reached an unlikely Premier League peak – at age 33

10 Jun 07:08 PM
All Whites stun Ivory Coast for notable win as Fifa World Cup countdown begins

All Whites stun Ivory Coast for notable win as Fifa World Cup countdown begins

08 Jun 02:09 AM
David Beckham to be awarded knighthood – reports

David Beckham to be awarded knighthood – reports

07 Jun 12:57 AM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP