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News
‘Jump off the page’: Shay Given backs two former Celtic players to be Ireland’s next manager
The headlines over Republic of Ireland win against Gibraltar last night is being dominated by the performance of Celtic winger, Mikey Johnston.
The 24-year-old was in sparkling form for his country. So much so that Ireland manager Stephen Kenny said that he was ‘too good‘ to go back to sitting on Celtic’s bench.
However, it seems that Kenny has more important things to be concerning himself with right now. The Ireland manager’s position at the FIA is under threat after poor results in the Euro 2024 qualifiers has led to speculation that he might be on the verge of being sacked by the football association.
And that speculation has led former Republic of Ireland ‘keeper, Shay Given, to throw two former Celtic heroes’ names into the ring for the job.
What has Shay Given said about the Ireland job?
Given said post-match after the 4-0 win over Gibraltar [], “I mean, Lee Carsley is probably one of the guys we would look up with under 21’s.
“He’s done a brilliant job with England in the summer there.
“I mean, Neil Lennon’s been mentioned, Roy Keane’s been mentioned you know, people like that. Roy would be like a name that would jump off the page in a sense that they’ve got no kit sponsor at the minute.
“He would put bums on seats, maybe kit sponsors would want to get back involved because we know financials at the FAI is very tight.
“So he’d be a name that would be sort of jumping off the page. So there’s a lot of people that would like to take that job, I would say.”
Both of these names would be box office for Ireland and both would put the fire back in the belly of the squad.
There’s no need to go into how Lennon and Keane would do that as it has already been well-documented how passionate both of these guys were as players and as managers.
My money would be on Keane to get the job. His history with Ireland and Manchester United would instantly command respect from the players and the country’s media. Could he control his temperament as it’s changed days now since he was last in the dugout?
That is something that would attract media attention and, as Given says, sponsors to the Irish game. TBR Celtic will keep a close eye on this one as it develops.
In other news, Celtic now want to sign £12m player who even Jude Bellingham struggles against