What next for Roy Keane? Paddy Power have a few ideas

One person who we bet would really like to see Roy Keane back in the dugout, bringing an end to his punditry days, is Giovanni Trapattoni. So, what are the chances of Trap getting his wish?

On Thursday morning, there was no mention of Roy Keane in the Irish media. Fast forward 24 hours and his criticism of the Irish team and his now infamous ‘sing-song’ comments after the Spain game propelled the Corkman to the front and back pages.

Since then he has pretty much stayed there, fuelled by comments he made in his Sunday newspaper column yesterday, and then further comments he made last night on TV. In short, it doesn’t look like he is going away anytime soon.

But Keane is only in a position to talk about Ireland as he is currently one of the most high-profile managers who are between jobs right now. As we have seen with the likes of Alan Curbishley and Glenn Hoddle, it is very easy for a manager to slip into punditry and never escape.

It is now 17 months since Keane last issued a team talk (for Ipswich) and with a raft of jobs out there at the moment if he doesn’t pick up one soon he will on the managerial scrap heap for good. So, what are his prospects?

Well there is one job that the former Manchester United man is being heavily linked to, the one at St Andrews. With his former international team-mate just out the door of Birmingham (Chris Hughton, who is now in charge of Norwich), Keane is heavily fancied to take up the reins of the Blues.

The former Ipswich boss is 6/1 with Paddy Power, with only Phil Brown and favourite Lee Clark ahead of him. With a talented squad, that Hughton steered to the play-offs last season, it looks like an ideal post for the man who dragged Sunderland out of the Championship not that long ago.

Outside of that gig, the only open football job that you can get a price on is the odds on Keane replacing Harry Redknapp at Spurs. ‘Arry’s exit is still a bit of a shock but Spurs are well set if they can get the right man in. It seems the lads at Paddy Power, or the betting public, don’t think Roy is that man as he is priced at 66/1 to get the nod.

That puts him at the same price as Steve McLaren and considerably bigger than the aforementioned Hoddle (who’s available at 50s). Football is a funny old game, as one former Spurs great once quipped, but it’s not that funny.

The lads at Paddy Power don’t just restrict Roy to football. In fact, he is 100/1 to take over in the Aras whenever Michael D is finished. That might be too far away for Trap who would like him gone now. One simple solution would be for Trap to quit and let Keane take over the Irish team.

Many feel he will never get it after his years of fighting with the powers that control Irish football but if you fancy it he is just 22/1 to be the next Ireland boss.