Shay Given may again be asked to act as Paul Lambert's assistant for the Premier League game at Burnley today as the Aston Villa manager looks to reorganise things until he able to replace Roy Keane who left his role at the club.

The goalkeeper previously took on the job at the tail-end of last season and looks to be an obvious choice as Lambert tries to minimise the disruption caused by Keane’s abrupt departure from Villa less than five months after arriving at the Birmingham outfit.

His decision to resign appeared to come out of the blue with Villa’s statement suggesting Lambert had not been aware of the Corkman’s intentions until the pair spoke on Friday morning. Martin O’Neill, however, has revealed that Keane had talked to him a couple of weeks back about the difficulty he was experiencing as he tried to juggle both roles and the northerner welcomed the fact that he had decided to stick with the Irish job

Brief discussion

“We had a brief discussion about the issue just at the last international get-together,” said O’Neill, in an official association video filmed while he was in a Dublin for a corporate event where journalists were prevented from approaching him, presumably on the basis that he would be asked about John Delaney’s recent actions.

“I think what happened is that he didn’t have any summer holiday – he went straight from international duty with us in America to the job at Aston Villa. I think eventually those things catch up with you one side of Christmas or other. I think he himself was more worried; I didn’t have a problem with it.

"I'm not party to his every day involvement at Aston Villa," he continued, "but I can only imagine he was nothing else than 100 per cent committed. His role here with the Republic of Ireland has been excellent; he has fulfilled all the points I thought that he would do. He has decided to make the choice. Naturally I am delighted the Republic of Ireland has been his first choice."

Incident denied

Villa denied yesterday a report that the move had prompted by a training ground incident and there was no obvious sign of any falling-out or link with Keane’s recent comments about Jack Grealish’s father which, to be fair, had seemed to be somewhat lighthearted at the time.

The club simply suggested that Keane had become frustrated by the scale of the commitment he had taken on and the amount of time he was getting to spend with his family as a result of having to juggle his two roles.

There is some speculation that the 43-year-old is, in fact, clearing the way to take a club manager’s job over the coming month or so but there was little hint of it in the quotes attributed to him and Lambert.

Keane observed: “Ultimately, my roles with Villa and Ireland and combining my commitment to these have become too much. It isn’t fair to either Villa or Ireland, so I’ve made this decision.”

Lambert, meanwhile, said: “Roy came to me this morning and he informed me that, ultimately, the difficulty of combining both roles has prompted his decision, which I respect totally. In the brief period we have worked together he has been great in the role and I understand his reasons for leaving.”

There was some anger amongst fans over the timing of the decision, which comes when Ireland have just played their last game for four months, but Villa are really struggling after a run of six defeats and two draws in the league that has left them just two points clear of the relegation zone and Lambert himself under significant pressure.