BLASTING BACK ... City boss Mark Hughes
Keano contacted his former team-mates yesterday to explain his outburst during
his first Press conference as boss of Championship side Ipswich.
He spoke to Bruce and sent a text to Hughes but, despite his attempts to make
peace, the pair were at pains to give him as good as they got.
Wigan gaffer Bruce stormed: “Roy is right to say none of us have won anything
yet — but that is because the big boys win practically everything every
year.
“If I finish in the top 10 with Wigan this season I will regard that as quite
an achievement. Until one of us gets one of the big jobs you won’t be able
to judge us.
“But, in Roy’s eyes, none of us will ever be classed as a successful manager
until we actually get one of those jobs, so it’s a bit of a no-win
situation.”
And Manchester City boss Hughes insisted Keane does not hold the copyright on
a will to win.
Sparky said: “Roy isn’t the only one with the mentality of wanting to win
things and be the best he can be.
“I would suggest all the players he mentioned and played alongside and are now
managers have also got that mentality. That’s why we’re all still in the
game.
“Success is relative and I thought he was right when he said I did an
excellent job at Blackburn.
“In the future, I’m trying to build something here myself.
“You will be judged at the top level if you can win trophies and, as a
manager, everyone strives to do that. I was able to do it as a player.
“As a manager I’ve been in the semi-finals of major competitions and not quite
made it but the drive and ambition to win trophies as a manager is exactly
the same as it was when I was a player.
“I’m not upset about it. I’m not really bothered, to be honest. I’m not going
to be coming into much contact with him, obviously.”
Keane also had a go at ex-managers Bryan Robson and Paul Ince, two more of his
team-mates from United’s 1994 Double-winning team.
But Bruce insisted Keane should get real and said: “Does any British manager
get a chance with one of the big clubs?
“Alex Ferguson got the job at United because he had been so successful in
Scotland but that wouldn’t be considered enough these days.
“The only new British coaches you see in the Premier League are the ones who
actually take their clubs up, like Tony Pulis and Tony Mowbray did.”
But despite being at loggerheads with Keane over what constitutes success,
Bruce insisted he is delighted to see him back in football.
He added: “I like Roy and the game is definitely richer — and livelier — with
him involved.
“While he was out of the game he came to more Wigan games than anywhere else
and we speak regularly — including today. Roy always speaks his mind. What
you see is what you get and it has always been the same.
“He sets himself incredibly high standards and expects everyone to match them.
“Roy has an incredible hunger and that is what sets the greats apart from the
rest.
“But he has taken on a lot at Ipswich, especially saying he will have failed
if he doesn’t take them up within two years.”
City boss Sparky added: “I don’t think there are many managers who get
appointed to a mid-table Championship team who can make the impact on the
world’s media as Roy has.
"That’s a compliment to him and the personality he is. He’s taken on a
big task, just as I did here.
“It must be a good opportunity because Roy’s gone back. Maybe he has been
given promises with regard to how much he’ll be able to spend.”
