Roy Keane becomes favourite to take over at Celtic

Roy Keane becomes favourite to take over at Celtic as former Republic of Ireland mentor and Hoops boss Martin O’Neill hails his ‘strong character’ as perfect for the position

• Roy Keane has moved ahead of John Kennedy as favourite for the Celtic job 
• Kennedy has stood in after Neil Lennon stepped down from the role in February 
• Celtic have had a miserable season and surrendered the league title to Rangers
• Keane previously played for the club briefly after leaving Manchester United 

Former Manchester United hardman Roy Keane has emerged as the new favourite to take over as manager of Celtic.

The Scottish giants are on the lookout for a new permanent boss after parting ways with Neil Lennon in February, following a sustained miserable run of form.

Celtic have missed out on a historic tenth consecutive title after Steven Gerrard’s Rangers ran away with the division and are still yet to lose a single domestic game all season.

Roy Keane is tipped to become manager of Celtic as permanent replacement for Neil Lennon

Now, Celtic are in line for a shake up and Keane is tipped to be handed the hotseat, according to the bookmakers.

Keane has overtaken current interim boss John Kennedy in the running and is now no better than 4/5 on with any bookmaker, making him a clear favourite.

The Irishman briefly pulled on the Celtic shirt during his playing days, making the switch to Scotland after calling time on his Manchester United career.

Keane briefly turned out for Celtic as a player after leaving Manchester United in 2005

Keane headed to Glasgow following a now infamous falling out with manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but went on to make only 10 appearances for the club – scoring once and registering one assist.

Keane has managerial experience under his belt already, having taken solo charge during spells at Ipswich and Sunderland.

He was most recently part of the coaching staff at Aston Villa and former club Nottingham Forest as assistant manager, while has also amassed international experience with Martin O’Neill and the Republic of Ireland.

Speaking this week on the prospect of Keane going to Celtic, O’Neill – who remains a legend at Parkhead – insisted his former second in command has all the traits to succeed. 

He told Go Radio: ‘Is Roy Keane managerial material? Absolutely.

Martin O’Neill, who worked with Keane at Forest and the Republic of Ireland, has backed him

‘I have worked with him and know him on an assistant basis. He has got an opinion, he knows the game inside out and is a strong, strong character.

‘The argument would be then “does the modern player feel that he can be comfortable in those surroundings?”. That is a decision for other people to make.

‘But absolutely [he can adapt] I think sometimes there is a feeling here that anybody of a certain age or certain vintage has the word dinosaur attached to them.

‘Roy has his own methods, it is there when he does his punditry work you can see that is the case. And I think strong characters at a football club would like that sort of management.’

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