Eamon Dunphy has described Roy Keane as a "comedian" who should not be "going around representing Irish soccer and the international team."
Dunphy was speaking on 2FM's Game On last night about recent event's involving the Ireland assistant manager and in particular Sunday's press conference where Keane had a go at both Jack Grealish's father and Everton. There was also a tense exchange between Keane and an Irish journalist.
This is what Dunphy had to say:
The Keane situation now is out of control. It's gotta stop, the Roy Keane stuff.
Very, very serious remarks he made about Jack Grealish, who is a young player we're trying to get. He's at Aston Villa and Keane had a go at his father yesterday in quite an intemperate way.
Bill Kenwright, the Everton chairman, is on television tonight talking about Keane's madness, he had a go at Everton.
This is the Roy Keane show now, it's a circus, unless Martin O'Neill doesn't get a grip on it, it's going to get worse.
There is this press conference yesterday, which I'm told lasted a long time, in which he's attacking journalists who are going about their job. An altercation in the hotel last week, book launches, controversial statements.
If that goes on then the Irish soccer team is going to become a circus and a joke and it's going to damage our results.
Dunphy mentioned that Roberto Martinez had previously been somewhat uncooperative when it came to releasing James McCarthy for international duty when he was at Wigan but that "diplomacy" is the way to deal with that.
Roy Keane would not have been given the job as Irish team manager on his merits and now he effectively speaking for the FAI and the things he is saying are not things the FAI or Martin O'Neill should be saying.
I saw Gordon Strachan making fun of Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane in a press conference last week joking about his own assistant Mark McGee. He said sarcastically or sardonically 'we have terrible problems, we fight every night about scrabble.'
But it was before the match and it feeds into a that would've been in the Scottish camp and also they have no respect. The one thing you want your opponents to do is respect you, the one thing you want your own players in your own camp to do is respect you.
Now obviously players are not going to criticise Roy Keane if they're asked in public but you don't want this kind of, 'comedian', if you like, going around representing Irish soccer and the international team. If it isn't stopped, it's going to do even more damage than may have been done already.
Don't forget there are a lot of players out there that we'd like to sign. We have to have a reputation as an international soccer for professionalism, for discipline and for behaving properly which means keeping your mouth shut on occasions which is a not something Roy Keane is able to do.
