Keane remains a breed apart from your common footballer

There's something about these Roy Keane promotional appearances for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. They usually start with polite questions about the well-being of Triggs, the golden Labrador whom Keane confirmed yesterday "is probably my best friend", and then develop into something a whole lot more revealing.

Is Triggs male or female?

"She's female," he laughs, as if he'd give a boy dog such a girlie name.

How old is she now?

"Four-and-a-half." (Calculators out: she was, bless her, just over a half at the time of Saipan).

Has she been to Scotland?

"No, she's not been up yet, a bit cold for her up there, freezing."

Triggs dealt with, then. Time for Keane to drop weighty hints that he will retire at the end of this season, despite signing an 18-month contract with Celtic last December.

"When I signed for Celtic I did say to them that it would be best for the club and myself to maybe look at things in the summer, but they were quite keen for me to sign for the extra year, which I did eventually," he said. "But I will look at things in the summer and see how my hip is bearing up. I'm due to go back to the specialist in the summer. It's important, to be fair, to myself and the club if it is affecting me. I'll weigh it up then, but there are no guarantees about next season, I have to say.

"Since having the surgery in 2002 I've regarded every season as a bonus, but I've got to look at the long-term side of it and see what's best for me and my family."

Any regrets about deciding to play on after leaving Manchester United, about joining Celtic?

"Well, the major question mark then was did I want to play on? I felt my body had had just about enough. But if I'd retired I think that would always have been in the back of my mind, should I have given Celtic a go? And I'm enjoying it, it's a great club, but I said from day one I would look at things in the summer. There's no hidden agenda there, but I've always put my football first; come the summer maybe it'd be nice to put my family first.

"You're up against real young, hungry players who can sprint a lot faster, there comes a time when you have to say enough is enough. But the challenge was to go to Celtic and try and help them with the league. I don't regret that decision, far from it, but I'll be taking stock in the summer, and doing what I think is best for the club and my team-mates and for me, because you have to try to be fair. Even though the temptation, of course, is always to play on, you want to play on forever, but the body doesn't allow it, I'm afraid."

And no, he insisted, it wasn't inevitable that he would go into management, although he admitted he hadn't given much thought as to what other career he might pursue.

"People automatically think I will go into management, but I'm not 100 per cent sure. Especially having been in football the past 15, 16 years, I think it'd be nice to get away from it, to get off the rollercoaster for a while.

"If I do go down the football route, I'll definitely look to become a manager, I wouldn't go in to it half-hearted, do a little bit here and there. But it might be another few years yet, so I would like a bit of time away from football. Just do something different with my family, basically. But it's dangerous to make too many plans, I know that."

There's a vacancy at Sunderland?

"I haven't got the qualifications for the Sunderland job," he smiles.

Had the previous manager the qualifications?

"Na, na, that's in the past," he says, rejecting the bait.

Have you ever thought about a career in the media?

"The media? No, no. I want a proper job," he grins. Gasps in the room, before everyone privately concedes: he has a point.

Keane, meanwhile, confirmed May 9th is the likely date for his Manchester United v Celtic testimonial at Old Trafford. He admitted, though, that it was "something I'm not really 100 per cent comfortable with".

"It just doesn't sit comfortably with me, it just doesn't, it's hard to explain," he said. "But, to be fair, United and Celtic have been very encouraging in terms of having the game, so it looks like it'll be going ahead. But it'll be nice to go back - not necessarily going back and seeing the manager and staff and players, because you're bound to see them over the years - but in terms of going back and playing in Old Trafford and saying goodbye to the fans properly.

"But I just don't like the attention side of it, you know? I've played in testimonials before and I think they're great, but for me personally it's just . . . hopefully it'll turn out alright on the night.

"But I don't feel uncomfortable with how I left United. It was very straightforward between myself and the manager," he said. "I think maybe people have been looking for a different angle on it, but we'd both come to the end. I said earlier, when you're in a relationship with a girl you just know when it's at the end, and that's the way it was. It was over. And that's it. Time to move on."

But sometimes people keep texting each other after a relationship ends?

"No, no, no. I don't have his number," he grins.

Will he be making a contribution to charity?

"Of course I will, but nothing is 100 per cent confirmed, but when it is I'm sure there'll be lots of people who will benefit from the game, people in Manchester, Glasgow, Cork and Dublin, I would have thought. But you won't be seeing many photographs, I won't be turning it into a big publicity stunt," he says, pointedly. "There'll be a game and that's it. There won't be golf days, there won't be dinners, there won't be any of that stuff. Some people go overboard on that side of things: there'll be a game, it's as simple as that."

A second international comeback? someone asks: "No, no, listen, I've had my time. And I was very lucky. It's important for a new manager to work with new young players."