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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Dan Marsh

Gabby Agbonlahor slams "disrespectful" Roy Keane's coaching style amid Sunderland offer

Former Aston Villa ace Gabby Agbonlahor has launched a blistering attack on Roy Keane in the wake of his potential return to Sunderland - with the pundit blasting the Irishman's "disrespectful" approach.

Keane has always expressed a desire to return to management after spending time away from the dugout in recent years.

His last managerial job was over a decade ago at Ipswich Town, but Keane has had stints as an assistant manager at Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and the Republic of Ireland since then.

More recently, Keane has been working for Sky Sports as a pundit.

But reports have emerged claiming that Keane has been offered a sensational return to Sunderland - over 13 years after he originally left the club having guided them to promotion back to the Premier League.

Join the debate! Do you want to see Keane back in management? Let us know here.

Gabby Agbonlahor has launched a sensational attack on Roy Keane in the wake of his potential return to management (@talkSPORT/Twitter)

The Manchester United icon is mulling over the League One sides offer, but not everyone is keen to see him return to management.

And Agbonlahor, who had a stint alongside Keane during his time at Villa Park, pulled no punches in his assessment of Keane's coaching capabilities.

"The problem with Roy Keane when he come to Aston Villa [was] he couldn't understand how we weren't as good as the players he played with," Agbonlahor told talkSPORT. "You know, he couldn't accept that we wasn't going to be as good as Giggs, Scholes, Beckham and them players.

"And just his way of coaching; it wasn't the right method for players nowadays and players when he was at Aston Villa.

"Just the way he spoke to players. There were times where there were quite experienced players, people like Joe Cole, and he just didn't speak to them right.

"He spoke to them in a way that was disrespectful.

"His man-management I'd say would be zero out of 100. It was that bad.

"There was a time in training where we were doing this shooting drill. You two were strikers, so imagine all 22 players doing a shooting drill and you've got to pass it to five different people, get it out wide and get a cross in and then you don't have another shot for about 11, 12 minutes.

"You're going to be getting cold, aren't you? You're going to be frustrated, like 'I need more shots'. So the standard wasn't very good.

"The gaffer, Paul Lambert, calls Roy Keane in and says 'look, this isn't good enough. The standard isn't good enough'.

Keane had a stint on the coaching staff at Villa Park (Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)

"So me, as captain, I've come forward and backed the players up and said 'well gaffer, we're only getting one shot every 10, 11 minutes, so we need to do something different', and Roy Keane comes forward and says 'oh, are you cold? Do you want another warm-up?' and I sort of said 'I'm not talking to you Roy, I'm talking to the manager'.

"He give me that evil stare, and then the next day he left.

"So I think at that time, at Aston Villa, he left because of me."

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