‘My staff have got people to look after’ – Robbie Keane defends decision to finish last season with Maccabi Tel Aviv

Keane has opened up on his controversial season in charge of the Israeli side, having led the club to a league and cup double and the Conference League Last 16 stage, before resigning from the job last June with one year remaining on his contract.

But the 44-year-old’s decision to continue in the post after Israel’s invasion of Gaza on October 7 last year has drawn widespread criticism in Ireland. He says what is happening at the moment is “terrible” but added that “at the end of the day, I’m a football manager and my staff have got people to look after. I have got a duty of care.”

Keane revealed that he and his staff decided that they would stay on until the end of last season before resigning, adding that he turned down a “big contract” with the club in the process.

Having won the Israeli Premier League and domestic cup during his one season in charge, he also said that “nobody can ever take that away from me.”

Flags in support of Palestine have been displayed by sections of the Irish support at several Ireland internationals recently, while Derry City supporters also unveiled a huge ‘Free Palestine’ banner at Lansdowne Road during the FAI Cup final earlier this month.

Keane, Ireland’s most capped player and record goalscorer, was back in the headlines last week when he was invited by the FAI to present caps to the senior squad in Dublin – a move that came in for criticism from some supporters and the wider public on social media.

Although Irish boss Heimir Hallgrimsson distanced himself from the controversy, he said he felt it was a “good thing” to have the Dubliner in camp to give a speech to the players ahead of their home win over Finland last Thursday.

This evening, Keane has opened up on his time with the Israeli club and shared his reasons for continuing on as manager during the war.

“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 (war began), we left (the country), but I have five staff, I have a lot of foreign players who rely on me as their coach,” said Keane, speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

“We were winning the league, hadn’t won it in three years, we were in Europe and doing very well. My analyst for example, he has got a mortgage, a family and kids he has to feed. The decision just to step away from something, it’s not just my decision, it’s everybody else’s decision, which was tough.

“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 got people to look after. I have got 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 just to walk away from that and leave him and his family…you know… because you can’t just walk into a job. It’s difficult to walk into a job straight away after leaving a post for 12 years. He is just one example, I had other staff.

“I had players calling me, ‘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 walk away from a big contract, another year, possibly two more years. We made that decision as a group and as a staff.

“But to go and win the league and to win the double, nobody can ever take that away from me.“

In the wake of the backlash over Keane’s appearance at the Irish caps presentation last week, his wife Claudine hit back at the criticism on social media and felt the safety of her family was at risk due to some of the comments.

“None of us signed up to this situation that happened months into his role, it was a nightmare. Please stop this absolute witch hunt and consider that politicians should not get to tell you where you can and cannot work,” she said.