Roy Keane has been tipped to become Manchester United manager by a former player who is baffled as to why he "never got a chance".
Keane is one of United's most successful captains of all-time, playing 480 times and scoring 51 goals while winning seven Premier League titles.
He left in 2005 when his contract was terminated amid a bitter fall-out with Sir Alex Ferguson and after a brief spell with Celtic, became Sunderland manager and led them to the Championship title after taking the job when they were in the relegation zone.
He resigned in December 2008 with a 42% win ration and later had a stint in charge of Ipswich.
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Prior their feud, Ferguson had predicted that Keane would succeed him as United manager but the former Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa assistant coach has never been in the frame.
And Nicky Butt, who played and won major trophies under Keane's leadership, cannot understand why Keane has never been approached by his former club to take the reins at Old Trafford.
Comparing Keane to Ferguson in terms of his management style, Butt believes the Irishman could have made a huge difference at United - who are onto their seventh permanent manager since the Scot's retirement in 2013.
“The only one I can never get my head around is why Roy Keane never got a chance at Man United," Butt said on the Good, Bad and the Football podcast.
"I do, and he’s a mate, so it’s a bit biased, but if you look at his personality and his playing career, his character and what he did in his management, he did unbelievable at Sunderland.
“And if you look at all the trouble they’ve had and he still lives local, I can’t for the life of me fathom how no one had a discussion with him and sat down and said, would you be interested in this job?
“I just think if, when it’s been going bad, if you’d have got Roy in, and Roy’s a very astute person, he’s a clever bloke, he’d then go and get a really good coach in to do the stuff that he might think is not the best at."
He continued: “Because I think Roy is very much an Alex Ferguson manager. You know, he’s a manager, he manages people, he comes alive on match days, he tells people what to do, he looks at it. He’d go and get some, whatever his flaws, he’s not too big to think, well I need this and I need that and I’ll go and get it.
“He’s not stupid enough to think I can do everything. And I just can’t for the life of me think how powers that be at that football club would not have spoken to him over the last five years.
"You're looking all over the world for the right person and the right person might be on your doorstep."
Keane hasn't been short of offers
Keane has been heavily linked with a whole host of managerial vacancies over the years and had some conversations with leading clubs - including both Celtic and Sunderland - in 2014 and 2022 respectively.
But he has never jumped back into the game as a manager and has instead continued to work as one of the most must-see pundits, providing analysis and opinion for Sky Sports and ITV, as well as the Stick to Football podcast hosted by Gary Neville.
The 54-year-old is known for being a particularly hash critic of United amid their monumental decline from standards he set in his playing days
Topics: Roy Keane, Manchester United, Ruben Amorim
Josh Lawless