Keane returns to football as Ipswich manager

As Roy Keane returns to the dug-out in the relatively tranquil surroundings of Portman Road, he knows that his reputation as a manager depends on the impact he has on an Ipswich side that has narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League this year.

Despite a promising start to his career with Sunderland, there are still plenty of questions over Keane's aptitude for management and it remains to be seen whether his no-nonsense approach will take him to the top of the tree, or if he will follow the well travelled path from superstar player to managerial misfit.

Keane had a sensational debut as a boss, taking over a dispirited Sunderland side that had lost four straight games at the start of the 2006/7 season, working his contacts in the game to bring in some big names, and leading the side to the Championship title that very season.

However, his record in the promised land of the Premier League was not as impressive, despite an outlay of £80m on players. He did keep the Black Cats in the top flight, but it came as little surprise when Keane abruptly stepped down in December last year. The usually forthright Irishman had cut an increasingly disinterested figure on the sidelines as the season progressed.

Keane turned his back on Ireland and a World Cup because of ‘amateurism’

Observers predicted a long break from the game, so his decision to return to management with the 'Tractor Boys' has raised eyebrows. Despite his fire and passion on the pitch, Keane has never appeared to be a man who needed football in his life.

For some players, the transition into management appears to have been inspired by a hankering after the camraderie of the game - but Keane is a man who laid into the Old Trafford fans, and left the club after attacking his team mates in an interview with United's own TV station. He even turned his back on his national team and the chance to play in a World Cup because of what he saw as amateurism in the Irish national set-up.

Keane is obviously a perfectionist, and after spending his career being mentored by two of the greatest managers in history - Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson - on paper it would appear that he could become a top class manager.

But there are plenty of great players who failed to make it in the dugout - Kevin Keegan, Bryan Robson, Glenn Hoddle, Graeme Souness, Ossie Ardiles and Ruud Gullit all tried but ultimately came up short. Even the successes are mixed, Kenny Dalglish for example won two league titles with Blackburn and Liverpool, but failed at Celtic and Newcastle and is now being linked with a backroom role back at Anfield.

By choosing an unfashionable club Keane may be hoping to serve an apprenticeship away from the limelight - a route that served Gordon Strachan (Keane's boss during his brief playing tenure at Celtic) and Martin O'Neill well - but being Roy Keane he is unlikely to stay out of the headlines for long. Paradoxically, instant success with Ipswich could be his undoing.

It is no coincidence that the greatest managers are rarely great players. Jose Mourinho was never a professional footballer and only came into management after working for Bobby Robson as a translator. Arsene Wenger had a modest career with Strasbourg. Sir Alex Ferguson played for Rangers and other Scottish clubs, but was never a household name and Brian Clough saw his promising career ended by injury.

All of them attained fame as managers, the problem for Keane and other successful players is matching their hunger for trophies when they already have a shelf of silverware at home. ·