ROY KEANE HAS weighed in on the simmering club v country row ahead of Ireland’s Euro 2016 showdown with Bosnia.
Keane insisted that his focus is on the players who are fit and available, but the Ireland assistant also accused some club managers of being disingenuous by ruling their stars out for a fortnight every time an international break approaches.
John O’Shea and Rob Elliot are among the five players who have remained with their clubs for further fitness assessments ahead of the crunch qualifiers in Zenica and Dublin.
Both Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce and Newcastle boss Steve McClaren have gone public with their hope that neither player will be involved with the Boys in Green.
Speaking after training on Tuesday, Keane accepted that clubs have a right to protect their injured players but hit out at the politics that often influences the decision.
“It’s unfortunate over the years that there’s politics involved with club managers and international managers,” Keane said.
“Part of me, with the injuries they had, in a sense it kind of ruled them out anyway.
“I’ve not taken too much notice of what club managers say,” he added.
“It’s ironic. Most club managers, and we’ve had it with other players and not just the managers you mentioned, when there’s international weeks coming up the players always seem to be ruled out for 10-14 days.
“It’s amazing.”
During his own stint as Sunderland manager, Keane became involved in a public spat with Jack Warner over his refusal to release Dwight Yorke for a Trinidad and Tobago qualifier, and infamously branded the Fifa vice-president ‘a clown.’
Keane said: “You ask any of the players who worked under me, I never had a problem with players going out for internationals. Never.
“I never ruled them out for 10-14 days every time there was an international match.
“If the players are fit they would go away but if players aren’t fit, you have to respect the club.
“If the players aren’t fit, then of course they say it to their clubs. But it’s ironic that they all seem to get ruled out for 10-14 days.”
“We’ve got to be careful,” he accepted.
“If John is injured, when you pull up with a hamstring like that and it’s a difficult one to come back from in terms of going straight into an international game, I understand that point of view as well. Don’t get me wrong.
“Not just Sam Allardyce but other managers have got to look after their players at club level.”
O’Shea and Jon Walters are both suspended for Friday’s first leg, while Shane Long, Paul McShane and Alan Judge are also injury doubts.
Long in particular faces a race against the clock as he bids to shake off the ankle injury he suffered in Poland, and the Southampton striker received an injection yesterday.
Keane downplayed any talk of an injury crisis and said it would be a ‘bonus’ if any of the players recovered in time to feature.
“The information I’ve been given on all the players is that we’ll know more in the next 24 hours.
“It’s part of the game. With the injuries we’ve had over the last two or three weeks, I’ve kind of ruled the boys out anyway and if they become available in the next day or two, particularly for the second leg, it would be a fantastic bonus.
He added: “It’s not as if something really came up in the last one or two days that has knocked us back. The last month, even with John O’Shea when you go off with a hamstring like that and it’s a pull, you fear the worst for the players.
“It’s the same for lots of teams at club level and international level. Sometimes you need a bit of luck.
“We’ve got decent numbers here and a good group of players who will go out and give their all for Ireland.”
