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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Pirie

The Roy Keane and Celtic manager talks that show Hibs must roll out the red carpet to land Manchester United icon

He's come close to managing in Scotland before — and Roy Keane 's links to Hibs are rapidly gathering pace.

The bookies continue to slash the odds on the outspoken Irishman replacing Shaun Maloney, but Ron Gordon and Ben Kensell might have a tough job sealing the deal.

That's if Keane's exchanges with Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell at Celtic are anything to go by.

Writing in his autobiography, The Second Half, Keane revealed he was on the verge of taking the top job at Celtic Park back in 2014 before Ronny Deila was appointed.

Keane, who was working as Martin O'Neill's assistant at Ireland at the time, confessed he turned down the opportunity after Celtic failed to make him feel wanted.

The Sky Sports pundit, who played for Celtic in a brief six month stint in 2006, appears to be interested in the Easter Road hot seat, but the board may have to go the extra miles to get a move over the line.

The Manchester United icon noted issues with the final package put on the table at Celtic before they turned to the Norwegian boss.

Roy Keane looks to be the frontrunner to take over at Hibs (Action Images via Reuters)

Keane wrote in his autobiography: "Celtic wanted me but they weren’t showing how much they wanted me.

"I got a call: would I go and have a chat with Dermot Desmond? I’d met him once before, in 2005, when I was signing to play for Celtic.

"I met him for a cup of tea. It was in the middle of an international week, in Dublin.

"At the end of the chat, he said: 'The job is yours'. It was all pretty straightforward. There would be one or two restrictions, about staff. They had already picked the man who would be my assistant and they were insisting on him.

"It didn’t scare me off but it did get me thinking. It wasn’t an ideal start. Were they doubting me already?

"I came back to the team hotel and spoke to Martin (O’Neill). I told him I would have a think about it. We (the Republic of Ireland) had a game against Italy at Craven Cottage in London on the following Saturday.

"The fact I had spoken to Dermot Desmond had become public knowledge. It had to, because Martin had a press conference and a few things had been leaked — as usual.

(SNS)

"I was delighted. It was a massive compliment. Over the years, I had always said: 'If you’re offered the Celtic job, you don’t turn it down'.

"I was in a predicament and my gut feeling was saying: 'You’re on your own with this one'.

"I asked Paul Gilroy, the League Managers’ Association lawyer, to speak to Celtic to discuss terms. Money hadn’t been mentioned yet.

"I got in touch with Celtic’s chief executive, Peter Lawwell and asked him to give me a ballpark figure before negotiations got going.

"He mentioned a figure and he said: 'But that’s it'. Paul told me there were a lot of clauses in the contract that he wasn’t happy with. And the figures were non-negotiable.

"I got my head around that. But it felt a bit too familiar. I had been down this road before when I signed for Celtic as a player.

"I felt they wanted me but they weren’t showing how much they wanted me.

"We played Italy on the Saturday and I had a message on my phone on Sunday from Dermot Desmond.

"They wanted a heads-up by tomorrow, Monday. I thought about the Celtic offer. It wasn’t rocking my boat.

"They weren’t convincing me: 'Listen, you’re the man for us'. I went to Paul Gilroy’s house (on Sunday night). There were things I wasn’t happy with in the contract. But I know if you examined every clause too carefully, you would never sign anything.

"I rang Dermot Desmond on the Monday and said: 'I’m really honoured you offered me the job but I want to stay with Martin'."

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