Roy Keane Q&A: ‘I couldn’t think of any minus why I shouldn’t get back involved’

What do you feel you can bring to the Republic of Ireland set up?
"Good question. Lots of experience. Lots of knowledge. Hopefully I like to set high standards, a lot of people seem to have an issue with that, a lot of the criticism I've faced over the last 15 or 20 years is that I'm very demanding and that I don't settle for second best . . . well, I'm certainly not going to apologise for that. That's just part of my make-up.

"Hopefully the players will enjoy working with me, especially the midfielders . . . surely I can bring something to them young boys."

What attracted you to job besides working with a manager like Martin?
"Well, it's nice to get back involved with Ireland because I've seen some of the matches . . . and just the whole emotional attraction to it. I know when you're a manager it's very much a business but I'm quite an emotional person. To get back involved with Ireland . . . I know some of the players, I'm looking forward to working with some of the lads I've not worked with before . . . the whole package. It's good for me, it's good for my family.

"It's good to work with Martin to try and help the team qualify. Everything. As I said, I couldn't think of any . . . like in any opportunity, any job, you look at the pluses and the minuses . . . and I couldn't think of any minus why I shouldn't get back involved: None whatsoever. So it's all good."

Do you acknowledge with this job that becoming a manager in your own right may have come a little too soon?
"No I wouldn't agree with that. I think the opportunity that came up for me at Sunderland was the right one. And despite what anyone says, Sunderland, I thought, was pretty decent.

“And these experiences . . . probably even more so my experience at Ipswich . . . will stand me in good stead when I go back into being a manager or even more so when I’m an assistant, understanding the pressure that Martin will be under, the demands he’s got.

" I'm there to assist and help him in anything that he wants whether that's by taking a training session, going to watch players, sometimes doing the media. I think that will help me; that I know what it's like on the other side.

You're so used to getting the boss, what is like now being number two?
"Nah, when you look back on my career, I've literally only been a boss for two minutes. In terms of my time at Sunderland for two seasons and one and a bit at Ipswich. So it's not as if I've been a manager for 20 odd years, it's all new for me. I've generally been answering to people throughout my career, particularly when I was a player and I've no problem with that, particularly when I work with people who show me respect."

Will they have to tame you?
"I hope not. There's nothing to tame, you know. I'm not some sort of animal, you know what I mean. I'm a footballing man, I like to work hard and push people and I suppose that sometimes I have got that slightly wrong on one or two occasions over the years, but generally speaking I look back and think I got a lot of it right. There's areas I need to look at, particularly now I'm the assistant, when to step back. And hopefully I'll get that right as well.

“I’m also there to push the players and put demands on the players, like we did today in training. I used to like people pushing me, that’s the name of the game from when you’re a kid, but there’s a way of speaking to people and I understand all that.

"There's a way of getting that message across, how you put the demands on them. You have to treat people with respect and, as I said, hopefully the players from the last few days will appreciate that.

Ray Houghton said you thought there were players in the current squad who were better than you?

“I don’t think I said that. I don’t remember saying that, maybe Ray had a few pints in him. No maybe I’ve said something along the lines that maybe there’s more potential . . . sometimes the players are the last to think that.