Aston Villa’s new assistant manager Roy Keane has moved swiftly to rebuff speculation that he is targeting Paul Lambert’s top job at Villa Park.
The 42-year-old former Manchester United midfield enforcer has plenty of managerial experience having had spells in charge of both Sunderland and Ipswich Town.
However more recently he has spent time as a No.2 with former Villa boss Martin O’Neill in the Republic of Ireland national team’s camp.
Keane will continue his role with the Irish and combine it with his duties alongside Lambert at Villa going into the new Premier League season next month.
There has been recent social media rumours that Keane agreed to take the assistant manager’s role as a stepping stone to eventually usurp Lambert as manager. But he hit back to categorically deny those claims.
He flatly said: “I’m not here to take Paul’s job.”
Keane reiterated that his aim at Villa is to help Lambert avoid another relegation scrap next term and help improve on the Midlands outfit’s 15th-place finish.
He said: “I’m not promising any miracles but if I didn’t think I could bring anything to the party, I wouldn’t have signed.
“It’s been a tough few years for Villa but a lot of big clubs have had difficult spells before.
“I believe we are capable of showing an improvement on the last couple of years. Let’s wait and see.”
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