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.”
