Robbie Keane has revealed he needed stitches for a head injury he sustained after guiding Ferencvaros to the Hungarian league title.
The former Tottenham and Liverpool striker took charge of the Budapest club in January, who wrapped up their 36th league title with a 2-1 win over Gyor on the final day of the season.
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And it’s fair to say Keane enjoyed the celebrations after winning his first silverware with the club.
So much so in fact, that the former Republic of Ireland striker managed to gash his forehead after accidentally hitting himself with the league trophy as he lifted it in front of the Ferencvaros fans.
Keane later shed light the bizarre injury in a video on Instagram, which left him requiring three stitches.
Sporting a cut-up forehead, the 44-year-old said: “Hey guys. Everyone keeps asking me what happened.
“I was lifting the trophy last night and the back of it hit my head so I had to get three stitches from the doctor.”
He then joked that the blow was irrelevant after landing the third trophy of his managerial career, adding: “Who cares when you win?”
And Keane has now revealed he is still bearing the scars from the freak incident a week later, as he joined Sam Matterface, Alex Crook and Troy Deeney on talkSPORT to discuss his league title success.
Donning a cap, the Irishman said: “I’m wearing a hat because I got stitches from lifting the trophy!”
Despite not yet making a full recovery, Keane reflected fondly on his title with Ferencvaros, who will enter into the second qualifying round for next season’s Champions League as a result.
He continued: “In the end it was good, but there’s a lot of lessons to learn from myself and the club.
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“We know that we have to improve and get better. Especially as we’re going to be in Europe next year, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Keane took over as manager of Ferencvaros at the start of the year after leaving his previous role in charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he won the Israeli Premier League during his 12-month stint.
Prior to this, the ex-Celtic man enjoyed various spells as assistant manager, first to Mick McCarthy with the Irish national team, and later with Middlesbrough and Leeds.
But despite having spent so much of his playing and managerial career in England, Keane revealed he is in no rush to find a managerial role back on these shores.
When asked if he would like to manage an English club, Keane replied: “People keep asking me this question. I’m in Europe.
“I had a call yesterday with somebody, an interview as well, and they asked me [that question]. I’m not from England. I’m from Ireland.
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“So whether I fly one hour to England or two hours to somewhere else abroad, it doesn’t make any difference to me, as long as I have the right tools and the right team that I can play my football.”
Keane then revealed he was keen to avoid having to compromise on his style of play if he were to take accept a job offer in England.
He explained: “If I go to a Championship team now, a low Championship team, and then we’re surviving, I have to go there and change the way I want to play, because basically we’re trying to survive. It’s costing the club millions if you get relegated.
“I want to go somewhere at this moment in time where I can actually put my proper identity on a team, and play a certain way that I want to play.
“It’s only going to help me in the future.”
And while he refused to rule out returning to England, Keane admitted he is enjoying testing himself as a coach on the continent for now.
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He said: “I’d never rule it out [a job in England]. I’d love to eventually come back at some stage.
“But as long as I’m playing at a high level, like in Maccabi, beating top teams. This year, beating AZ [Alkmaar, 4-3 in the Europa League], playing European football – this is what I love, because as a player, this is what I was involved in.
“By the way, Ferencvaros is a top team and they’ve always been in Europe. For me to go back home and win the Championship at the moment, it would be tough because of the European situation.”
“So I just need to keep building, keep getting myself better, learning from myself, learning from the coaching staff and everybody. I’m going on a different route than everybody else.”
