After over a decade without a role as a manager, it appears as though Roy Keane may finally be about to take charge of another team.
Reports have been circulating that the former Manchester United captain is about to return to Sunderland, the club he launched his managerial career with back in 2006. Since then, he has only managed Ipswich Town, as well as assistant roles with Ireland, Aston Villa, and Nottingham Forest.
However, he came under criticism at times for his approach to some of those jobs. Never one to hold his tongue during his playing days, Keane's direct and demanding approach is something that is said to rub players the wrong way in the modern game.
It is likely this approach that has seen him stay out of management since 2011 despite being open in his desire to take on another job.
Gabby Agbonlahor not impressed with Roy Keane as a coach
Speaking on talkSPORT after the potential return to Sunderland was revealed, Gabby Agbonlahor said he was very unimpressed with Keane's coaching style.
The former striker, who worked with the Irishman at Aston Villa, said his man management was almost non-existent during his time at Villa Park.
❌ “Roy Keane didn’t speak to players in the right way, it was very disrespectful!”
👀 “His man management was 0/100!”
🔥 “Once at #AVFC, I said to Roy - ‘I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to the manager!’”@Ga11Agbon reveals the arguments he faced with Roy Keane at Villa 🤯 pic.twitter.com/dMxno72LMa— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) February 3, 2022
The problem with Roy Keane when he came to Aston Villa was that he couldn't understand how we weren't as good as the players he played with. He couldn't accept that we weren't going to be as good as Giggs, Scholes, Beckham and those players.
Just his way of coaching, it wasn't the right method for players nowadays when he was at Aston Villa. It was the way he spoke to players. There were times when there were players like Joe Cole, he just didn't speak to them right. He spoke to them in a way that was disrespectful.
It was in front of people. It was very disrespectful, you know there is ways to put it to players. His man management I'd say was 0/100, it was that bad.
There was a time in training when we were doing this shooting drill. Imagine all 22 players doing a shooting drill, you have to pass it to five people, get it out wide and get a cross in. You don't have another shot for 10 or 11 minutes, you're going to be getting cold because you need more shots.
The standard wasn't very good. The gaffer, Paul Lambert, called us in, Roy Keane was there as well. The gaffer says 'this isn't good enough, the standard's not good enough'.
Me as captain, I came forward and backed the players up, said 'well gaffer we're only getting one shot every ten minutes, we need to do something different'. Roy Keane came forward and said 'oh are you cold, do you need another warmup?'
I sort of said 'I'm not talking to you Roy, I'm talking to the manager'. He gave me that evil stare, and then the next day he left. So I think at the time in Aston Villa, he left because of me.
Sunderland may feel that that their squad could benefit from the jolt a presence such as Keane would bring to the dressing room.
They have won only won of their last five league fixtures, including a 6-0 defeat at Bolton in their most recent outing. That run has seen them slip to third in the table, although they are still well in the automatic promotion race.
It would be interesting to see if Roy Keane could be the man to finally get them back into the Championship. We can only hope that Netflix sanction another series of Sunderland 'Til I Die with him in charge of the club...
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