Former Ireland captain Robbie Keane has received a lot of criticism in recent months for deciding to stay on as manager with Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, despite the ongoing war in Gaza.
With many from Ireland supporting Palestine in this conflict, there was a lot of backlash towards Keane for staying on as manager.
Ireland’s greatest ever goalscorer went on to win the league and domestic cup in Israel that season, and when the campaign came to a close, he handed in his resignation.
Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, the ex Tottenham striker explains that he had a “duty of care” as manager.
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“Let’s make it clear, obviously there has been a lot of stuff going on. I resigned at the end of the season from my post at Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“When it did happen (war began), we left (the country), but I have five staff, I have a lot of foreign players who rely on me as their coach.
“We were winning the league, hadn’t won it in three years, we were in Europe and doing very well.
“My analyst for example, he has got a mortgage, a family and kids he has to feed. The decision just to step away from something, it’s not just my decision, it’s everybody else's decision, which was tough.
“Let’s make it clear, what is happening is terrible and nobody wants to see it. Hopefully it ends very, very soon. But at the end of the day, I’m a football manager and my staff have got people to look after. I have got a duty of care.
“My analyst for example was at Middlesbrough for 12 years, for him to come with me (to Israel), and then for me just to walk away from that and leave him and his family…you know… because you can’t just walk into a job.
“It’s difficult to walk into a job straight away after leaving a post for 12 years. He is just one example, I had other staff.
“I had players calling me, ‘please don’t leave coach, don’t leave, what you have done for this club’, so I made the decision to stay until the end of the season and walk away from a big contract, another year, possibly two more years.
“We made that decision as a group and as a staff. But to go and win the league and to win the double, nobody can ever take that away from me.“
Keane made headlines last week when he was invited to present the current Irish team with their caps before the international series.
Manager Hemir Hallgrimson defended this decision, and said that “it was a good thing” for the players to have such a legendary figure return.
