Keane admits desire to return to club management

Roy Keane wants to return to club management but the Republic of Ireland assistant boss will remain in his current role for Euro 2016.

The Republic secured their place at the European Championship finals in France by completing a 3-1 aggregate win over Bosnia in Dublin on MOnday evening.

Manager Martin O’Neill said the move to appoint Keane as his assistant was “as good a decision as I’ve made in quite some time,” labelling the former midfielder’s contribution as “absolutely enormous”.

But Keane admits he retains ambitions of returning to club management, having bossed Sunderland and Ipswich previously.

He said: “I’m going to meet with Martin over the next couple of weeks. He knows that I still have that ambition to get back into club management.

“I’m not really one for networking or applying for jobs, but I’m enjoying my role here. I certainly want to stay on for the Euros, then we’ll play it by ear.

“I’m planning to meet the manager just to have a chat, to see where he stands, but I think that Martin knows I have that ambition to get back in the ring. Stuff has come up, but I’ve always been very focused on the job. We’ll have a look at that again in the next couple of months.

“Will this get me back in the window? I don’t know, but I’m loving my role with Ireland. It’s been everything I hoped it would be and I’ve been learning a lot from Martin.”