The Irishman – who gathers his squad together to start pre-season training next Friday – has just completed his Uefa Pro Licence, a qualification every Premier League manager must have.

Assistant academy manager Kevin Ball also graduated from the Warwick University course, and they are being followed on the next programme by head coach Tony Loughlan and reserves boss Neil Bailey.

But Keane, still a relative rookie in management after just two seasons in the job, expects the big lessons of his career are still ahead of him now the classroom work has ended.

He said: "I've come on the course and instead of thinking that it's over now, this is where my learning really starts.

"Sometimes people think 'I've done my badges, it's done now and I'm qualified', but I think all my qualifications will come over the next 20 or 30 years of experiences of working with teams.

"You've always got to raise the bar. We knew last year was all about staying in the Premiership which we managed to do, and next year the aim is to try and build on that. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job.

"Obviously, we want to do better than last season – even though we achieved what we wanted to achieve, which was staying in the Premiership.

"Trust me, you've got to keep raising the bar and I'm quite comfortable with that.

"The coaches around me and the people I'm working with – it's testing them and making sure they're raising the bar."