Why the jury is out on Robbie Keane in Hungary

The 42

18-05-2025

IT IS a big day in the managerial career of Ireland legend Robbie Keane.
A win for his Ferencváros side this evening against 10th-place Fehérvár will see them take a big step to the league title.
That result would leave them three points ahead of rivals Puskás Akadémia with one round of matches remaining and a vastly superior goal difference (although the latter are currently top of the table with a match extra played because they have won one game more).
But dropping points would leave hopes of being crowned champions in serious doubt.
On the final day, they face a daunting trip to fourth-place ETO Győr, the league's most in-form team, who have won five games on the bounce and are unbeaten in 11.
They drew this season's reverse fixture with Ferencváros 2-2, and Keane's men were also the last team to defeat them — a 4-3 victory to knock them out of the Hungarian Cup in February.
So the outcome of today's game, which kicks off at 6.30pm Irish time, will likely be crucial in deciding the reigning champions' fate.
Given that the team are so close to securing the title, those unfamiliar with the Nemzeti Bajnokság I might assume that Keane has been perceived as an unqualified success in Hungary, but it is not necessarily the case.
After all, Ferencváros are akin to the Celtic of the country's top flight.
They have already won 35 league titles (the next best is MTK Budapest with 23) and are going for their seventh league win in a row, which would be a record in the club's history (bitter rivals Újpest previously won seven on the spin between 1969 and 1975).
The majority of those triumphs have come comfortably – Ferencváros are by far the best-resourced team with the most talented players in the country and the biggest fanbase.
When most Hungarian sides come to play them, they tend to park the bus.
This year, though, attempting to win the league has been more of a struggle than usual.
When Keane took over in January, succeeding Pascal Jansen (who left to join New York FC), the club were second in the table.
Hungarian journalist Gergely Marosi says he was 'maybe a little bit' surprised when the Irishman was announced as the new manager because the club usually scouts 'eastwards' for new coaches.
Former bosses have included another ex-Tottenham striker, Sergei Rebrov, Russian Stanislav Cherchesov and a 'not eastwards but neighbouring' coach — ex-Austria international and the man who once hit a hat-trick against Jack Charlton's Ireland, Peter Stöger.
On the other hand, Marosi suggests Keane's appointment was 'not that surprising'.
'The club president once said that they are looking for a coach with a bigger name internationally than the club,' Marosi explains.
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Keane fits the bill in that regard. He has a greater profile than the vast majority of Irish footballers — he is still 24th on the list of all-time top scorers in international football, and anyone whose list of former clubs includes Tottenham, Liverpool and Inter Milan is bound to be recognised more widely than the average ex-pro.
Jansen was an exception to this general rule, but before him, the club's manager was Dejan Stanković, who won over 100 caps for Serbia and had a club career that included lengthy stints at Lazio and Inter.
'The thought behind this is that they want to have coaches who have a lot of international experience as a player and who have played at the highest level, in the hopes that it will rub off on the team in some way,' Marosi says.
Of the 30 players in Ferencváros' first-team squad, only eight are Hungarian, so Keane's lack of fluency in the language is not a problem. The diverse mix of nationalities means English would be commonly spoken in the dressing room, with ex-Liverpool player Naby Keïta among the notable names on their roster.
The former Ireland skipper does use a translator when on media duty, however, and 'sometimes gives a hard time to the interpreter because of the accent'.
Marosi adds: 'He's not massively philosophical in post-match interviews. He seems to be quite a realist and pragmatic; maybe that's what the situation requires. Overall, he has made a decent impression.'
The fans, meanwhile, were cautiously optimistic as the Dubliner took charge.
Jansen had been in the job just six months before opting to leave.
The Dutchman was a highly-rated coach who had strong ideas on how the team should play, but was a less-than-seamless fit for Ferencváros.
The style of football did not thrill fans. It worked sometimes, especially in Europe against teams with an attacking style, but it was less effective in domestic matches.
While it might have improved had Jansen stayed for longer, fans were getting impatient, and few were disappointed when he chose to depart.
Keane's arrival galvanised certain players, but the Irishman would have known, walking into the job, that it would not be easy.
The 44-year-old is the club's seventh permanent coach in the last decade, despite the hierarchy having frequently acknowledged the need for greater stability.
While some, like Jansen, walked before they were pushed, the level of expectation is a perennial challenge.
At this stage, winning the league is the bare minimum required of a manager.
To really win the fans' hearts, a strong European run will be vital to how Keane is perceived.
The ex-Leeds star did get a brief crack at Europe this year with mixed results.
In the Europa League group stages, he oversaw a 2-0 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt and a thrilling 4-3 victory over Troy Parrott's AZ Alkmaar, which was enough to see them through in 17th place as one of the unseeded teams in the knockout round.
In the play-offs, they looked well-placed to advance after a solid 1-0 home win in the first leg over Viktoria Plzeň, but a comprehensive 3-0 loss in the return fixture put paid to their hopes of progress in perhaps the worst moment of Keane's stint so far.
Lenny Joseph of Ferencvarosi TC reacts during the MOL Hungarian Cup Final. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo
Wednesday's penalty shootout loss against Paks in the Magyar Kupa final, after a 1-1 draw in normal time, was another black mark against Keane and increases the pressure on him to claim the league title.
'Obviously, nobody is happy after losing a cup final,' says Marosi. 'But more so, how the team played, they looked quite devoid of ideas.
'Paks, who won the cup, are a difficult team to play against and a bit of a bogey team for Ferencváros.
'They have big, tall strikers. They are wrestling and usually making life unpleasant for their opposition. It is really difficult to play against them, and Ferencváros doesn't like that, and it showed again. They also beat them in the last cup final in 2024.'
Marosi suggests Keane has made marginal improvements to the team and instigated changes that have worked, at least in the short term.
They remain heavy favourites to prevail, and an unexpected slip-up in the title race, Marosi believes, is the only scenario where Keane could be under pressure to keep his job this summer.
On the other hand, the prevailing notion is that the Irishman cannot be properly judged until next season.
It is a Ruben Amorim-esque situation in one sense. Keane was suddenly thrown into the job and, without the benefit of a full transfer window, he is working with a squad of players he inherited.
The majority of Hungarian media appreciate that he needs more time to implement his ideas, which is why the jury is still out, and it likely won't be until this time next year when more definitive views emerge on whether he can be deemed a success or a failure.
Marosi says it would be 'unfair to judge him on the results of this half-season'.
But don't expect people to take a sympathetic view if the team do not improve in that period.
'We usually say in the league previews: 'As always, it's Ferencváros's to lose.'
'It's not an easy job, but it's also the place where everyone in Hungarian football wants to be.'
Their title rivals, Puskás Akadémia, by contrast, have never won the league.
Despite steady improvement in recent seasons, the club have exceeded expectations this year.
They were only founded in 2005, and their modest stadium has a capacity of 3,816, in contrast with the 23,700 that can fill the Ferencváros Stadion in Budapest, or the 67,000-capacity Puskás Aréna, where Keane's team played on Wednesday.
'They are the team from [Hungarian prime minister] Viktor Orbán's home. Their stadium is next to the prime minister's house in a little village, so losing to them would hurt.
'It would be pretty unfair, but of course, if [Keane] doesn't win the championship, he will be known as 'the bloke who didn't win the championship.''