CELTIC legend Martin O’Neill has continued to support Roy Keane as the managerial guessing game goes into overdrive.
The 49-year-old Republic of Ireland international icon, who had a brief stint at Parkhead in 2006, has emerged as the bookies’ latest favourite in the pursuit of a successor to Neil Lennon who departed Parkhead last month.
John Kennedy has been put in interim charge of the team until the end of the season and he has seen the side draw two and win one of his three games since moving into the hot seat.
A goalless stalemate against Dundee United at Tannadice officially brought down the curtain on a nine-year spell of domestic domination and there was also a 1-1 deadlock with Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox club at Parkhead on Sunday. A deflected goal by Odsonne Edouard gave the side three points against Aberdeen in his first game at the helm.
A succession of names have been linked with the post and O’Neill has thrown his weight behind his former Irish and Nottingham Forest No.2 for the vacant role as the club face a summer of upheaval. Keane has not managed a team since leaving Ipswich Town 10 years ago.
O’Neill, 69, speaking on Go Radio, said: “Is Roy Keane managerial material? Absolutely.
“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.”
