Roy Keane: Why the Great Player Will Never Be a Great Manager

Roy Keane is as he has always been; an individual that seemingly courts controversy. This was ok when he was a player (I use the term ok loosely as it is obviously not ‘ok’ to purposefully set out to end someone career a la Alfie Inge Haaland), now though, the goalposts have moved, Roy Keane is no longer that player, any player.

When one is a player, even a captain, one is a drone at the managers disposal. The manager moulds the players into the system he wants to play, brings in new players, ships out those he doesn’t want. The problem with Roy Keane is that his ideal team would be 11 Roy Keane’s, 11 snarling Irish brawlers who live and die for the shirt. Instead he had Tamas Priskin, a slightly built Hungarian.

It is highly doubtful, despite protestations to the contrary, that any manager has his "ideal" team, but other managers make the most of what they have got, or befriend a rich Arab sheik. Roy Keane’s faux pas is that his disillusionment with his players' ability, or lack thereof, has spawned a negative mentality that filters down to his team. Winning's fine, losing though—Roy Keane doesn’t like losing.

A truly great manager must be cut from one of two cloths; a truly great communicator or a great leader. In this oh-so-cruel world where Roy Keane clones don’t stand on every street, Roy Keane is neither. Brilliant when his team is on a run of form, as his perma-state of ‘us vs. them’ aides team unity, when a losing streak sets in, however, Keane’s stock reversion to the blame culture drops yet more ice on the already sinking ship.

This season is a great example Ipswich spent big and were tipped for success. A strong early season showing compounded the sense of optimism at Portman Road. Then in mid-October the team went on a dismal run of results, gaining three wins and nine losses in their next 12 games. This wasn’t Roy Keane's fault..... said Roy Keane.

Roy Keane, it seems, is living in Utopia, or at least wants to be. A land in where his players live up to his impossible standards. A world in which Roy Keane’s army flattens middle premiership earth and just to compound the Lord of the rings analogy, a world in which Frodo Tevez flees in the face of Keane’s army taking the one dummy back to Mount Argentina. Roy Keane is not Sauron though and this ridiculous world jockeys position in Roy Keane’s head with the numerous Roy Keane fan clubs.

If your reading this, Roy Keane, I have some advice for you; Go to Qatar. Make some friends, yes really. Sit around for a while and then when they buy Manchester United maybe just maybe they’ll take you along for the ride.