Return of the prodigal Keane

While it isn’t yet clear whether his return will apply to competitive games only or if he is to resume as captain of the side, the fact that he, Brian Kerr and Manchester United appear to have come to an arrangement of sorts is the best news many Irish supporters have heard in a long time.
Keane and Kerr have been in occasional contact since they met in Manchester more than 15 months ago. Although Keane had left that first meeting having agreed in principle to a return, subsequent pressure from his club scuppered the deal. Now it appears that an arrangement of sorts has been reached.
Keane was sent home from the Irish team camp based in Saipan after a bitter row with manager Mick McCarthy in May 2002 just before the World Cup, but only formally retired from international football in February 2003.
The Corkman’s return is a huge boost for Kerr, who has seen his side struggle in midfield in many of the games since he’s taken over as manager. Although it appeared that the whole issue had been done and dusted after the pair’s meeting a couple of months ago, Keane made a few somewhat cryptic comments at a press conference more recently that appeared to indicate that he hadn’t ruled out a return. Whatever his reasons, the end of the saga will be of massive relief to Kerr.
“The issue for him was establishing a basis by which his club, Manchester United, would facilitate the desire to return he had when we first spoke,” Kerr said on Tuesday.
“Roy Keane had to resolve that problem himself. A number of weeks ago, I spoke about the fact that there were some Irish players playing at the top level who had chosen, for a variety of reasons, to retire from international football. To represent your country is to my judgment the greatest honor any athlete can experience. It was for that reason I wanted all those players who had retired early to know that it would be possible to make themselves available again in the event that they ever had a change of heart,” Kerr said.
“I am glad that one of the greatest players ever to play for Ireland has chosen this path. It cannot have been an easy decision for him but his desire to represent his country is immense. We met last week and discussed everything about his decision in great detail.
“He had addressed the issue with his club before that meeting and they are aware of his decision to make himself available for international duty with immediate effect. I look forward to working with Roy Keane. He brings quality and experience to a potentially excellent squad of players whose sole focus is the World Cup qualifying matches next autumn,” Kerr added.
Keane played 58 times for Ireland before the row with McCarthy in the Far East
The Corkman’s fierce competitiveness — “his almost pathological will to win” in the words of one commentator – was felt to have been decisive in Ireland’s qualification for the finals in 2002. And the country’s hopes in the World Cup rested on the shoulders of the man who’s generally believed to be one of the world’s finest midfielders.
Early on, though, Keane made it clear he was unhappy with the training facilities the Football Association of Ireland had arranged for the squad in Saipan. After he claimed nothing was done about his complaints, he said he wanted to go home. A flight was arranged and a replacement selected, but at the last minute he agreed to stay. However, in the meantime he’d given an interview in the Irish Times in which he criticized the organization, the facilities and the attitudes of several of the players.
At a team meeting called to discuss the Times article, Keane bitterly clashed with manager McCarthy. He was then sent home. Precisely what was said at the meeting is still a matter of dispute, with critics saying that Keane gave a toned-downed version of the barracking he directed at McCarthy in his memoirs published that fall.
At a press conference the following day, senior players Niall Quinn and Steve Staunton said that the team was unanimous in backing McCarthy and that they didn’t want Keane back.
Soccer fans were split on whether Keane was the victim or the aggressor in the affair and a divided nation watched Ireland have a good run through the group stage but succumb to Spain in the first knock-out round.