It tends to be the way of these things where Roy Keane is concerned but the news yesterday that the Corkman will not be travelling to Brazil as part of ITV's World Cup punditry team was promptly taken by elements of the English midlands' media last night as a sign that he will instead be heading to Birmingham.
Well, given the choice between the two, isn’t that were we would all go?
Keane revealed that he would not now be working with the broadcaster at a sponsorship function in London which he and manager Martin O’Neill attended together.
The news was later confirmed by an ITV spokesman who told the Guardian: "Roy has been a tremendous part of our pundit team in recent years, but we fully understand his decision to concentrate wholly on his coaching. We wish him every success for the future."
The "concentrate on coaching" bit got them going in Birmingham where Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert has talked to Keane ago about the prospect of combining his role with Ireland with a similar job at the Premier League outfit which has Gordon Cowans and Shay Given fulfilling the role between them on a temporary basis at present.
The idea might actually appeal to Keane, who is reported to have been given plenty of time to think it over, but it seems pretty doubtful. The decision to quit ITV for the time being seems, for a start, to have been taken a few weeks ago with the 42-year-old likely to have been influenced by the realisation that he was going to have to skip the final day of Ireland's preparations for the friendly against Turkey because of his obligations to the broadcaster at the Champions League final.
On the eve of that match, Keane was asked about having to fly out to Lisbon for the day trip and said it was unfortunate but couldn’t be helped. In the starkest of terms, though, he then concluded that: “It won’t happen again.”
Keane has never given the hint of enjoying the media work and appears to have seen it as a way of maintaining his profile while he was without, as he once put it, “a proper job”.
Comment on decision
O’Neill, in any case, will get to comment for the first time on his assistant’s decision to turn down
Celtic
as well as his thoughts on Villa when he speaks with the media after training and before he, Keane and the squad head to the US for the games against Costa Rica and Portugal.
Damien Delaney has joined the list of players who won’t be making the trip with the Crystal Palace defender having been given permission, along with John O’Shea and Séamus Coleman, to start his summer break.
Stephen Ward will not be on the plane today either although the Wolves left back may be able to join the squad for the Portugal game next Tuesday.
Ciaran Clark looks increasingly unlikely to feature in the tour after having stayed in England yesterday to receive treatment at Villa for an ongoing knee problem while Jon Walters missed a training session with a minor stomach bug and will be assessed this morning to see if he is well enough to take part in the squad’s final run out before they fly this afternoon.
Wes Hoolahan and David Meyler also sat out training yesterday due to minor knocks but both are expected to be fine for the game against Costa Rica in Philadelphia which kicks off at 1.0am Irish time on Saturday.
