totally agree with what he is saying though.
"You don't have to be 18 or 19 to go on loan, but it's a different animal we're dealing with these days. One or two players here have had opportunities over the last few weeks to go to very good clubs and play at a very good level, just to get games because one or two might have had injuries or whatever.
"There's no hidden agendas, but they said, 'Nah, nah'. Again, footballers are a strange breed these days. I thought I was strange, but I'm pretty normal, trust me. Footballers are changing -- I don't think some of them love the game as much as they should do. If you're a footballer, you need to play football. I think it's a sad reflection on the people themselves.''
Keane has allocated 44 squad numbers for this season and with more signings in the pipeline, he admits he is under pressure from chairman Niall Quinn and his controlling Drumaville group, plus chief executive Peter Walker, to "trim'' the wage bill.
He said: "In an ideal world, we need to move one or two on permanently and try to get some money back into the club, and get players off the wage bill. The chief executive, the chairman and owners of the club have constantly asked that and it's one thing getting players in, but you can't keep bringing players in on top of the players we've got -- we have a lot of professionals at the club.
"But some of the professionals have no intention of moving anywhere and they will be here until their contracts expire. One or two of them are going nowhere -- unless Real Madrid come in for them.
"One or two players would certainly be out of your plans, but I can guarantee they are going to see their contracts out.
"Some players don't love the game -- they just sit through their contracts. Every club will have two or three of them, and we're no different. We have two or three who have absolutely no intention of going anywhere.
"We need to trim. There are one or two players and I've spoken with managers over the last few days and there's progress being made. But there are one or two players here who have had opportunities to go on loan and they are very reluctant to do it.''
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Comments
What he said to Mick McCarthy was brilliant
(Nearly!) everything he said and did as a player, was about winning.
And (nearly!) everything he has said as a manager, is about winning.
His role model: Sir Alex Miserable Moaning Whingeing Git Ferguson.
So no surprises there.
He had that mean, nasty (and sometimes viscious) streak as a player - but that made him hugely competitive, and a winner.
As a manager, he seems to have matured a lot - and in public at least, now seems to say more or less the right thing, more or less most of the time.
Even if he is a 'Knacker'.
CommentAuthorBlackForestReds
* CommentTime6 minutes ago
Hmmm...we wouldn't have said no if he'd expressed a desire to play for Charlton, and I suspect if Pardew got the tin-tack and Keane was available I don't think you'll find many not wanting him to replace Pards. I always thought he was a player that the opposition and their fans loved to hate, while secretly wishing that he played for their team.
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Bang. Nail. Head .......exactly, BFR.
And GH, in every minute of every match, somebody on the park is calling out to another player, "See you next Tuesday".
So nothing new there and part of the game.
Where Knacker Keane broke the rules was doing it in public off the field.
And the press just love that.