In a vivid illustration of his talents, he evoked his own particular brand of midfield menace at Ibrox, none more so than the moment he received his first booking in Scottish football for a cynical, yet perfectly professional, trip on Dado Prso.

It was the calculated act of a man in control, a luxury seemingly absent from the Irishman's repertoire during the conspicuous mediocrity of his first few appearances in a Celtic shirt, and suggested that, after a stunted first month in Scotland, Keane . . .the footballer . . . had finally arrived. Amid the murmurings that provided a soundtrack to his first few weeks at Celtic Park, the upheaval undergone by the midfielder since his shock departure from Manchester United, was conveniently disregarded. Anyone who is suddenly removed from a particular environment after more than a decade and thrust into a new and unforgiving spotlight will take time to adapt, a commodity which Celtic's transfer window acquisition was simply not afforded.

As he looked ahead to this afternoon's visit to East End Park to face Dunfermline, Keane himself admitted to underestimating the magnitude of leaving the Premiership for a different league.

"If anything, it's opened my eyes to what it's like for other players, especially if they come from different countries, " he said. "At least I've come from just down the road.

"It opens your eyes to it and it's a new experience for me. You've got your own pride and you always want to do well but you've got to be patient when you come to a new club.

"In my case, I'm coming back from injury, getting used to the lads' different ways, different dressing room, different banter, different training ground, different preparation for games, different pre-match and post-match routines. All these things come into the equation and because I had a particular routine at my previous club all these things have got to be taken into consideration."

Far from bemoaning the change of atmosphere that his introduction to Scottish football has produced, the Irishman is relishing the freshness of the challenge.

While the prospect of trips to Dunfermline, Livingston and Falkirk are unlikely negotiating tools for attracting topclass players to Scotland, their attraction certainly seems to have seduced Keane.

"It's nice because you're coming up against different opposition, different grounds, different travel arrangements, " he said. "It's all new and that was one of the reasons why I came up here. I'd had 15 years in the Premiership and felt the time was right for something new."

The alien situation in which the Irishman has found himself was compounded by the four-months which elapsed between his final appearance for the Old Trafford side and that ill-fated January afternoon at Broadwood. The expectation of a rampaging display against Clyde seems ridiculous when viewed with the benefit of hindsight and, indeed, the Old Firm game was only Keane's third start in his preferred central midfield role. Ever his own harshest critic, though, he insists that he is still some way away from his optimum level of performance.

"In the position I play in, the players have done pretty well over the previous years so I've had to be patient. I've had to be patient with myself as well. It can take a few games when you come back from injury and I think it will be another few games yet.

"I've now had two full games in my own position and I feel I'm getting there but I do believe that after the long period I've been out it'll probably take six or seven games . . . competitive games, not including friendlies . . . to get in the swing of things."

It would be a bold decision for Gordon Strachan to leave Keane out of the side this afternoon but while the pivot of the Irishman and Neil Lennon was ideal for a game in which a draw would have been acceptable, such a tandem against a side battling against relegation smacks of excessive conservatism.

"I think the manager will have his options, " he said.

"Naka [Shunsuke Nakamura] didn't play last weekend and he could make a comeback. Obviously in the middle, Neil and Stilian have been playing really well."

"I enjoy the pressures here and the demands of winning every week, " the midfielder said. "That's why I came here in the first place . . . to be competitive and try and win football matches and trophies. I wouldn't like to be at a club that's in the middle of the table and going nowhere."

Despite his January hibernation, it appears that for Keane, some things never change.