Former Preston North End loan man talks Robbie Keane manager links and how close he was to joining as a player

Former Preston North End loan star Aiden McGeady has given his thoughts on the Robbie Keane manager links.

In an interview with the Lancashire Post, he also confirmed that the former Premier League striker was close to joining the club in January 2017.

McGeady was on loan at PNE from Everton during the 2016/17 season, scoring eight goals and registering nine assists across 35 games.

North End have been looking for a new manager since parting company with Paul Heckingbottom and his assistant Stuart McCall on September 13.

Keane, who has managed - and won silverware with - Israeli Premier League side Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hungarian outfit Ferencváros, is reportedly a candidate for the PNE job which would be his first managerial role in England.

While McGeady has praised his former international teammate for his successful coaching career, he admits it wasn’t always clear that he would go into management.

“To be honest, there are certain players that you think will become managers,” McGeady told the Lancashire Post.

“Keane, I never saw becoming a manager but then, towards the end of his career, I could see him doing a bit more coaching and stuff.

“But I never thought he'd take the jump to management so quickly because he was Middlesbrough assistant for a while. And then when [Jonathan] Woodgate got sacked, he kind of stepped away from it. But no, I never saw him become a manager.

“But look, he's got a good track record so far and he's got a short managerial career. And yeah, he’s one of the names, he's been linked with Preston, but he's also been linked with Celtic as well, very heavily in the summer.

“And then there's a lot of talk just now as well, if Martin O'Neill goes, who's going to be the next manager? And his name seems to keep resurfacing.”

McGeady also revealed that Keane was close to joining PNE from LA Galaxy in January 2017.

There was huge speculation about a potential move in that winter window, while Sunderland was also a reported possible destination for the Tottenham fan favourite.

Ultimately, Keane stayed at the MLS side but signed for Indian Super League club ATK in August that year.

McGeady said a striker of Keane’s ilk was the missing piece in what could have been a successful 2016-17 season.

“[Keane] was the one who was supposed to sign in January. Then, I don't think Preston were going to end up paying his wages, understandably so.”

He added: “[PNE] have been unlucky in the last few seasons. That was one thing that I found when I was at Preston, I think we were really close.

“Especially the season that I was in, we were probably a striker away from probably being in the playoffs, because the only striker we really had who was scoring goals was Jordan Hugill.

“I remember saying to Simon Grayson and saying to Peter Ridsdale, get another striker in because if Jordan Hugill isn't scoring goals or he gets injured, we've not got a striker.

“I felt that the club didn't push out to go and get a striker, and I felt that was one thing that we missed out on that season, because we were probably about a point or two outside the playoffs for the majority of the season.

“Not from when I joined, the very start of the season, we were kind of down the bottom but, from Christmas onwards, we were one or two points outside the playoffs.

“We finished 11th, but we just slipped off, and that was one thing I found.“

McGeady was speaking on behalf of NewBettingSites.uk.