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Football

06th Jun 2023

Robbie Keane thinks Leeds relegation could have been prevented

Lee Costello

“We probably came in a little bit too late.”

Robbie Keane believes that Leeds’ relegation from the Premier League could have been prevented if he and Sam Allardyce had of arrived at the club earlier.

Keane and Allardyce came in at the start of May to try and stop the club from returning to the championship, but couldn’t get the run of wins needed.

The Irishman was the assistant manager, while the ex England boss took the reins as head manager, but even their combined experiences couldn’t save the team.

The pair only had four games to try and turn things around, but one draw and three defeats meant that they remained in the drop zone, and their short stint as a duo was over.

Robbie Keane

In his Betway column, he wrote: ‘My time at Leeds was very enjoyable, in terms of the experience and being back at my old club. There are really good people there, good staff. It’s a club that’s got a great history.

“Unfortunately, we probably came in a little bit too late. It would have been nice if we’d have got in there earlier, I think it would have been a lot different.

“The experience was great, apart from the results, but we knew we were going to be up against it with the teams we were playing.”

Robbie Keane

“It was great to work with Sam, with the experience that he has, to just learn how he is with players and with staff – he’s got a really good way about him and you can see why he’s been very successful.

“You can only learn from these managers who have got the experience he’s got, who can do what he has done over the years in these situations.”

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The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10