Of late, even Roy Keane has started to believe his management career was over. In interviews over the last year, Keane, who has never given up on getting back into the game, has admitted that his reputation as a manager and pundit, even if he calls a lot of it "a pack of lies" will make the decision makers nervous about giving him a chance.
Keane hasn't had a management role since he left Ipswich in 2011 and has been out of football entirely since leaving Nottingham Forest as Martin O'Neill's assistant in 2019.
While Keane has been never far from the news making waves in punditry on a regular basis, it now seems a surprising lifeline has been thrown to his management career from an unlikely source.
The Azerbaijan national team are looking for a new manager following the departure of Nikola Jurcevic and, according to The Sun, Roy is their first choice for the role.
With the backing of their oil-rich state, Azerbaijani football is ready to make a move onto the world stage and their first order of business is getting promoted from tier C of the Nations League. Their group consists of Montenegro, Cyprus and Luxembourg.
Can already imagine Roy Keane's first meltdown in the Azerbaijan dressing room.
"Come on lads have you no fucking passion? Is this the standard that the *checks notes* 114th best international team in the world holds themselves to? Embarrassing!"— Gary Connaughton (@gconnaughton15) June 29, 2020
The Azerbaijani FA confirmed to the Sun that Keane is their first choice for the role and they are looking for an answer in the next 48 hours.
It is unclear however if this is the right move for Keane, despite the attractive offer he's received. At 48, a misstep here will surely signal the actual end of his coaching career and there is also the issue of the distance and travel required in a role like this.
Baku is over 3000 miles away from Manchester and flights from London to the city are five and a half hours. Keane will also have questions about the standard of footballer available to him. Striker Renat Dadasov of Wolves in the only English based player in the current squad, while Eddi Israfilov plays in the Spanish second tier with Albacete. The vast majority of players in the squad play at home, with Champions League regulars Qarabag hosting the majority.
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