Fa Barclaycard Premiership News Update

Fa Barclaycard Premiership News
( 05 December 2008 )

English Premiership football News

Ferguson unsure over Keane return
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is not certain that Roy Keane will return to football management.

Keane has resigned as manager of Sunderland on Thursday after 27 months in charge of the Black Cats and The Game in his future remains uncertain.

"It is difficult to say whether he will return," said Ferguson.

"It is an extremely controversial. Every week I always had something to say about The Game. It was the same as a player."

Ferguson, who played under Keane at Manchester United, added: "It is an interesting and made a decent up there."

Keane, who has spent more than £ 70m on 33 players since 2006, has guided the club in the Premier League during his first season as manager before last term maintenance.

And despite recent results, which saw Sunderland win one of their last seven games, the Black Cats are always in a better position this year than they were at the same stage of last season.

Former teammate and now Manchester City boss Mark Hughes believes that the release of Keane in May came as a result of not taking a decent pause before finishing his playing career and take over as manager of a club.

37 years, the Irish went to Sunderland in August 2006, almost immediately after the accident ended his playing career at Celtic in June of that year.

Hughes also started his management career, but he believes he was immediately helped by the fact that his primary role was the boss of Wales, with the intermittent nature of the international calendar giving time away of The Game.

"You sense in recent weeks, that perhaps there was a point where I was going to consider his future and on foot," said Hughes.

"He is still young and still has a future in The Game, if he wants to return there are a lot of time for him to do so.

"Maybe I went from being a player to a manager too quickly.

"I think it is important to have some respite eleven you stop playing and even if I went into management he was with Wales if I had a little free time. I do not think Roy has this advantage.

"He needs to step back, learn from the experience and go again."


However, Ferguson believes that the problem is more deeply rooted than that, with the pressures of management to take greater than ever toll.

"There are very few managers that will last more than three to four years in a club nowadays and the life of a manager of a club is becoming shorter and shorter," he said.

"They can go to different challenges, but it is a very precarious industry today and very emotional game.

"A few years ago, people said I should have spent four years earlier - the black flags were out!

"The football people like me are fortunate to have been in a club for so long, though. I do not have to go through this emotional situation."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger expressed his surprise at the resignation of Keane, but he believes he will return to management.

"This is a surprise, but I can understand," said Wenger. "He is a passionate man, and I regret leaving the job.

"When you are passionate, especially at the beginning of this career, you physically suffer enormously. Moreover, because he is a passionate man, there is no other way for him to be in work .

"When you are passionate about The Game, you leave it and go because there is no other way to be happy. I think I will be back."

Keane another former teammates Paul Ince has urged managers to give young people more time while also supporting him to return to The Game.

Ince itself is under pressure at Blackburn where his side made a poor start to the season.

"It will be back. It is a fantastic manager, but we lost today," said Ince.

"I've said before, managers need time, just look at Sir Alex Ferguson.

"You can not take Säckingen young managers and put them under pressure. We need to be supported."

Gary Pallister is another of Keane of the former teammates who, like Hughes believes that the Irish need a break from the sport.

"I think Mark Hughes has done a very good point that he never had a rest from football," Pallister told BBC Sport.

"I finished playing and went directly into management, I think I will enjoy a rest with his wife and children and to recharge its batteries.

"It is very difficult to guess Roy, it is entirely his own man and he could decide he is not comfortable being a manager, but it could decide that it lacks."

Pallister added: "Can I find something else to occupy his mind or will I miss football a lot I want to return it?

"I'm not even sure he knows well - he needs a break to focus clearly on what to do."

Pallister also admits that it would not be surprised if Keane left football for good.

"Honestly, I think it needs time to walk away and look at the whole picture," said Pallister.

"He has a big family back in Manchester and I will look at his options and see if he wants to return to the Madhouse that Fergie (Sir Alex Ferguson) called.

"It is very different type of character and is pure box office, he speaks of his heart and he is very blunt in its assessment of things.

"It would be a worse world without Footballing him because he is one of the characters that make you sit and take note."
by bbcnews.