Big Jack knows a player when he sees one.
When you think about the managers that Roy Keane had during his formative years as a professional footballer, it’s not exactly surprising that Ireland’s current assistant manager isn’t what you would call a shrinking violet.
Brian Clough, Alex Ferguson and Jack Charlton weren’t shy of expressing their opinions and Keane has definitely followed their lead.
This being said, these three managers all experienced great success in the dugout because they had an ability to spot a player and Jack Charlton’s first impression of the Corkman is a piece of nostalgic gold.
I was reading Jack’s World Cup Diary from USA ’94 and stumbled upon this passage where he discusses the need to bring in some fresh faces ahead of the World Cup qualifying campaign.
What Charlton says is like a prophecy of the skills, talent and drive that would define Keane’s Irish career. Here it is, word for word;
The other newcomer, Roy Keane, is also a Cork man but unlike Denis (Irwin), a shy man who gets on with his job quietly and efficiently, Roy is seldom out of the news. And given his prodigious talent, that is not altogether surprising.
I said earlier that we could have been stronger in one or two positions for the ’90 finals in Italy, and one of the people that we could have done with out there was Roy Keane. Unfortunately, he was still in youth football. So many superlatives have been used to describe the lad, that it’s difficult to know where to start. He’s strong; he reads the game well for one so young; and even at 21 he’s a manager’s dream inasmuch as he can fill three or four different roles.
But the thing I admire most about him though is his engine. Even on the heaviest of grounds, he looks to be capable of running all day. That’s a priceless asset in any youngster, and when you marry that with the superb skills that Roy has, you come up with a very special player”.
I think that we can all agree that this was an absolute perfect description about one of Ireland’s greatest ever players.
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