Bruce Happy To Have Keane Back

24 April 2009 15:09
Wigan boss Steve Bruce insists 'football is better with Roy Keane back in it' despite the Irishman's comments on the managerial 'success' of his former Manchester United team-mates on Thursday.[LNB]Keane marked his unveiling as new Ipswich Town manager in typically forthright fashion, claiming the likes of Bruce and Mark Hughes had yet to prove to be 'successful' managers because of their lack of silverware.[LNB]Although he has failed to win any cups, Bruce has so far won two promotions with Birmingham and kept Wigan in the Premier League against all the odds last term, while Hughes continued his sterling work with the Welsh national team at Blackburn before winning the top job at Manchester City last summer.[LNB]The Latics chief, however, says he took no offence when he learned of Keane's comments - and even admits he fully understands where his old mate is coming from.[LNB]"The papers have gone on a slant today, and they have all been wanting that," Bruce chuckled. "I can see them all now, saying: 'What slant are we going to go down?'[LNB]"They have all got together and thought: 'This is going to be our headline - we'll hammer Roy's mates.'[LNB]"I'm sure it was taken out of context, but the one thing I have always said about Roy is that, even in a little sleepy town like Ipswich, he is back page headlines, over two or three pages.[LNB]"For me, football is better with him back in it, because we were all intrigued on Thursday - with how he looked, what he was going to do, what he was going to say, and whether he was going to come out with something outrageous.[LNB]"I am glad he is back in the game, and I am sure he will be a success at Ipswich. He'll put himself under enormous pressure - but that's Roy.[LNB]"He seems to be excited by the challenge, which can only be good.[LNB]"I've known him since he was 20 years old, so if there is somebody who can understand him a little bit, I know where he is coming from.[LNB]"And he's right! We haven't won anything. Two promotions means nothing in his book. You have got to win the Premier League and the European Cup as a manager to be a success in Roy's eyes.[LNB]"That's the sort of standards he sets himself - but it is very difficult to do that."[LNB]Bruce also pointed to Everton boss David Moyes as an example of a British manager who can consider himself to be a success despite never having put a trophy in the cabinet.[LNB]The Scot will get the chance to change that in next month's FA Cup final against Chelsea, but Bruce says Moyes' work at Goodison Park can be judged in a favourable light regardless of the result at Wembley.[LNB]"Look at all the British managers in the game at the moment," he added. "To get a job in the Premier League you usually have to take a team up there.[LNB]"Very, very rarely does a young British manager come in from outside and get the chance to manage in the Premier League.[LNB]"Then there are those who have been in the Premier League for a long, long time like David Moyes, who has done a fantastic job on limited resources.[LNB]"This is, I think, the third year they are going to finish in the top six, and that for me is an unbelievable achievement - but he hasn't won anything.[LNB]"He has a chance now with the FA Cup final coming up, but he has still been at a big huge club. And if one of the so-called giant clubs come looking, because David Moyes hasn't got a trophy on his cv, would he get the chance?[LNB]"That is the problem that we all face. It's great to be a Premier League manager, and it's what we all strive for, but when you have done it for six, seven, eight years, it's very difficult to keep trying to keep a club in the Premier League.[LNB]"You have got to be up at the other end and be competing against the giants, which I have to say is very difficult, because it looks to me as if they are getting further away from us all.[LNB]"We are still competitive - but there is a huge gap between the top four or five and us now."[LNB]

Source: Eurosport