Angus Kinnear convinces Robbie Keane to join Leeds United after 9am call
Robbie Keane has joined the Leeds United backroom staff just hours after first being approached for the role by Angus Kinnear, according to Graham Smyth.
Keane wasn’t named in the official Leeds statement to announce Sam Allardyce’s appointment as manager until the end of the season on Wednesday morning (3 May), although Karl Robinson was mentioned as his assistant.
But it’s now been shared that managing director Kinnear phoned former striker Keane at 9am this morning to convince him to join, which led to a flight from Dublin and his arrival at Thorp Arch the same afternoon.
“Angus Kinnear put the call in to Robbie Keane this morning,” Smyth wrote on his personal Twitter account (3 May).
“He was in Dublin. The ex-Leeds United striker has just arrived at Thorp Arch.”
BBC journalist Adam Pope added to that, revealing the call happened at 9am and that Keane travelled over ASAP to start work.
Keen
We need lots of help with our coaching and attitude from the last few weeks, and hopefully Keane can start to install that himself.
His attitude is exactly what the fans want to see from the current players, with plenty of encouragement and positivity needed with the tough fixtures we have coming up.
Keane’s coaching record is hardly something to scream about, but he knows the club and with Allardyce’s methods to get the team as solid as possible defensively Keane will be able to help the attackers.
We need to find a way to be more clinical in front of goal and regardless of what you may think of him, he’s Republic of Ireland’s all-time top goalscorer and one of the best finishers this club has had in recent history.
Clearly he didn’t need too much convincing to take the job which shows he wants to really help, so fingers crossed he can deliver.
In other Leeds news, Victor Orta is returning to Elland Road to try and hijack a transfer as he lines up a new job already.