Martin O'Neill was officially unveiled as Nottingham Forest boss on Thursday and announced that he would "dearly like" Roy Keane to join him at the City Ground.
O'Neill and his assistant were sacked from the Republic of Ireland in November after a hugely disappointing 2018 ended with relegation to the third tier of the Nations League.
He now makes a romantic return to Forest, where he won a league title and two European Cup medals as a player during the golden era of Brian Clough.
Keane started his career in England at the club under Clough in the 90s before moving to Manchester United and would be a popular appointment among the Forest faithful. O'Neill has revealed he's keen to bring him on board.
"I would dearly like him to join us here," he said. "I hope it may happen. It may not. He has a number of things he has to consider himself, both personally an professionally. He'll keep me informed.
"He was a great asset to me with the Republic of Ireland. We'd some really great days. He can be tough to handle, there's no doubt at all about it. But you know that about him. That’s probably what makes him special.
"He was a special player, a fantastic footballer. He drove Manchester United on for ten years. He didn't win all those things by sitting around."
Forest are ninth in the Championship table, four points off the play-off spots. O'Neill will look to energise the side and immediately set himself the target of returning them to the Premier League.
"It has probably not sunk in yet as things have happened very quickly," he added.
"It goes without saying that it's a privilege and an honour to be manager of this club. I had 10 years here as a player, and the last five were pretty exceptional.
"It's a long time since the club has been in the big league and I am going to see if I can rectify that. It's the only reason to be here. The club has slipped a bit in recent times but hopefully we can rectify that.
"I have to get to know the players in ultra quick time, but that's okay. This is it, this is what I am meant to do. I'm here for 18 months and if I can't get them up then I will hand it over to someone else."
