Roy Keane is going nowhere soon.
The Republic of Ireland assistant manager is believed to have an agreement in place to stay in his role under Martin O’Neill until the end of Ireland’s 2018 World Cup campaign, at least.
The FAI confirmed the contract extensions of both Keane and O’Neill earlier this week and although O’Neill maintains that it’s been based solely on a handshake agreement at the minute, it’s almost certain that both will stay on regardless of how Ireland fare at Euro 2016.
From Versailles, Keane spoke about his decision to stay on and revealed that he turned down more than one approach to bring him back to club management but that he was never persuaded to go through with it.
Keane said: “I said all along that I had to wait to see what the manager’s plans were. Things fell into place over the last few days, that he was going to stay on and when he wanted me to be part of it I didn’t really hesitate.
“Working with the Irish senior team is a pretty good job; in fact it’s a brilliant job. I really enjoy it. There have been other offers while I’ve been in the job but nothing that’s rocked my boat for me to leave.
“The club stuff? I’m 44 years old and I am keen to get back into it but there’s plenty of time for that. When I said I wanted to do it in the short term, I meant in the next few years, not the next few weeks. It’s been enjoyable. It’s been tough but I’m happy to be staying on for another two years.”
