THE CASE for Roy Keane to be the next Republic of Ireland manager is a flimsy one according to Eamon Dunphy.
Once thick as thieves, the pair of straight talkers famously fell out in the years after the latter ghostwrote Keane’s first autobiography.
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But even leaving aside whatever personal enmity may remain between them, his argument had plenty of validity – despite its brevity.
In a lengthy interview with The Sunday Independent, it was put to him that the 52-year-old would ‘put bums on seats.’
But Dunphy scoffed: “Bums on seats won’t solve our problem and Keane is not the answer.
“He’s not a good manager of people.”
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Whilst it’s tough to definitively rule anyone in or out of the running for the gig, well-placed reports late last month indicated FAI sources have categorically said it won’t be him.
That was one of the only football-related titbits from the entire piece which is more of a chronicling of Dunphy’s life and times as he nears his 80th birthday.
The ex-Millwall man details his poverty-stricken childhood growing up in 1940s/1950s Dublin.
And he reflects on its modern-day ills which has affected the younger members of his family.
Delving into the mass emigration of young Irish people nowadays he tore into successive governments’ mishandling of the housing market.
Of the knock-on consequence it’s had with people flocking to places like Australia and Canada in search of more viable living arrangements, he blasted: “They say f*** that, I’m going.
“We’re losing nurses, doctors, all kinds of people.
“It’s deeply wrong. It’s deeply shocking. And it should never have come to this.”
That point struck such a nerve with him as he emotionally revealed his recent connection to the common trend.
“I have some very close personal experience of it. Someone very close to me is leaving Ireland.
“One of my grandchildren, a brilliant young fella. He broke the news to his parents last week.”
Through tears, he added: “It’s f**king… [whispers] boy, it’s hard.”