Former Ireland player Robbie Keane has explained why he decided to stay at Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv despite the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, explaining that he had a responsibility to his staff members.
Keane took charge of the Israeli club and led them to win the Israeli Premier League and domestic cup during his one season as manager. However, his decision to join the club drew significant backlash due to the ongoing war in the region.
Robbie Keane and his wife Claudine (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)This month, Keane was invited into the Ireland camp before their match against Finland in Dublin, where he presented caps to players at the team hotel on Monday night. His appearance sparked criticism on social media, with one commenter stating, “Him? That’s who you picked? So out of touch with your own fanbase,” while another added, “They could've gotten Declan Rice, Jack Grealish, and Thierry Henry to present these awards... and it still wouldn't be as bad as this little c***.”
Speaking on the issue for the first time, Keane appeared on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast this week and explained that his decision to stay was influenced by his responsibility to his staff, many of whom had families and mortgages to support.
"Let’s make it clear—obviously, there has been a lot of stuff going on. I resigned at the end of the season from my post at Maccabi Tel Aviv. When it did happen (the war began), we left the country, but I have five staff members and a lot of foreign players who rely on me as their coach," said Keane.
"We were winning the league, which the club hadn’t won in three years. We were in Europe and doing very well. My analyst, for example, has a mortgage, family, and kids he has to feed. The decision to walk away wasn’t only going to affect me; it would affect everybody else too, which made it tough."
Keane also expressed sympathy for the situation but emphasised that he is not a political figure, only a football manager.
“Let’s make it clear—what is happening is terrible, and nobody wants to see it. Hopefully, it ends very, very soon. But at the end of the day, I’m a football manager, and my staff have people to look after. I have a duty of care.
"My analyst, for example, was at Middlesbrough for 12 years. For him to come with me to Israel and then for me to just walk away... leaving him and his family, you know, because you can’t just walk into a job straight away after leaving a post of 12 years. He is just one example—I had other staff too."
The Irish legend admitted that leaving the club at the end of the season meant losing out on another big contract. However, the decision was made collectively with his staff.
“I had players calling me, saying, ‘Please don’t leave, coach, don’t leave. What you have done for this club...’ So I made the decision to stay until the end of the season and to walk away from a big contract—another year, possibly two more years. We made that decision as a group, as a staff.”
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