The end of an era? Roy Keane leaves Aston Villa

Despite only joining in July, Roy Keane is out as assistant manager at Aston Villa. A little over a month ago, we heard that Keane could leave to focus on his job as assistant manager for the Republic of Ireland if the international side slipped into bad form. However, in an interview with the Birmingham Mail he would leave if the Irish "lost three or four on the spin." Since he said that, they have drawn one and lost one in Euro 2016 qualifying, so it might have been for a different reason.

Keane did have the other job first, and in all fairness it was somewhat of a confusing move to begin with because of that, from Villa's perspective anyways. Juggling an international and club job must be difficult, it's not FIFA after all. Maybe Keane was a double agent, and Ireland boss Martin O'Neill was trying to get him to sabotage Villa but Keane came to like the club too much in his (short) time here to do it? Or, possibly it was the other way, with Villa trying to get back at their former manager for quitting right before the season started a couple years ago.

We will definitely miss his beard, as well as the intensity he brought.

Do you think losing Keane is a big blow for Villa? Let us know in the comments!