MARTIN O’Neill believes that Roy Keane’s new role at Aston Villa as Paul Lambert’s right-hand-man is a positive move for his assistant manager.
The Ireland boss revealed that he had received assurances from Lambert that Keane’s job as the Villa boss’s number two would not impede his international duties ahead of the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.
"My view is if it doesn't impinge on the job here with Ireland then in actual fact it will end up being good for him," said O'Neill, speaking in Rio de Janeiro where he was working as a pundit for ITV.
O'Neill added that the FAI also agreed the move after Villa reassured them that Keane would be able to continue his Ireland duties both on and off the field with the demands of working for a Premier League club.
"I know that if we couldn't have made it work, he wouldn't have taken the job in the first place,” he said.
“If his commitments to us – both on the commercial side and certainly from my viewpoint in terms of the time working with players – is not impinged at all then I'm happy for it to go ahead, genuinely happy.
"Villa have agreed to give him all that time with us and therefore I don't really have a problem with it. I spoke with Paul to see how he felt it was going to work.
"He said that he gives the players, the senior players who are not involved at international level, a lot of time off anyway during that time (international breaks) and even if they did come back for a day or two, they could cope with that."
O'Neill also gave assurances that Steve Guppy and Steve Walford, who joined his staff for Ireland's recent summer tour, would not have to take on extra responsibility with Keane balancing two managerial roles, and joked that that the fact Walford stood next to him for the games had no significance.
"That was round about the time of the Celtic job I think," he said. "Seriously, I think Roy doesn't want to sit beside me all the time. I'm not always sure that John Robertson, my really trusted lieutenant, sat beside me.
"And sometimes when you're sitting down, you're not really sure who has sat down beside you. That's no problem whatsoever. The two lads, their role would not have changed anyway.
"I wanted them to come in and feel part of it in our three-week trip. They'll certainly go to matches for me which is great, absolutely. Steve Guppy was covering that, Steve Walford couldn't do it for a little while, certainly not officially.
"He was covering some matches for me in an unofficial capacity. But in terms of Roy's role, absolutely not (in terms of replacing him). Roy's role is absolutely crucial to it."
O'Neill added that Keane's role at Villa could be useful in tracking the progress of rising teenage star Jack Grealish, who broke into Lambert's first-team plans at the end of the season.
"He'll be able to tell me everything that's happening there so he'll know him intimately now," he said.
