False: Keane has no man-management skills
- “There were explosive moments with him as manager but that wasn't a problem. Sometimes the manager upset a player because he wanted to win so badly. He had that desire and that rubbed off on us. You had to do well because if you didn't, he would let you know. You had to do well and I think players realised that and played for him. Of course he lost his temper and there was a fear about the place but he also looked after his players and he earned massive respect for that.”
- “We were celebrating in the dressing room when the door was flung open and he made it pretty clear what he thought. He was going mad and said those levels were unacceptable. At the time I thought it was remarkable . I couldn't get my head round what was happening.”
- “Without doubt there was fear. I certainly feared him in some regards. That was what he wanted to instil. You either climbed the peaks with him or you disappeared. It was a constant test and constant demand. Only now looking back, do I see how rigorous it was. You knew when you were playing badly. At half-time I would look at my boots and hope I wasn't the one he would be coming for. He is prepared to tell you what he wants and if you are not prepared to deliver he will tell you.”
Oh Keane, you can't carry on like this! At least, anyone could be forgiven for thinking those quotes refer to Roy Keane's early management career. But no, they are actually all talking about
Alex Ferguson in his time at Aberdeen. Here is a more recent one: -
“I remember sometimes when we do something bad or we lost some games he kicked the chairs and he kicked the boots, he kicked everything, the waters, the drinks. And he's so red and, 'feck you, you should pass the ball, you'...”
~Cristiano Ronaldo on Ferguson's anger
Why am I going on about Ferguson?
Well, he is probably the greatest manager of all time and a master of man-management according to most. There is even one story of Ferguson having such an effect in his early management career that his own player punched him and knocked him to the ground before he bounced back up and continued bawling at him. In recent times alone, there have been well-documented fall outs with Stam, Heinze, Beckham, van Nistelrooy, Keane, Hargreaves, Tevez, Rooney. I think this shows even Ferguson did not have a perfect record in dealing with players and it would not be reasonable to expect.
It would be fair to say this is the bar to judge Keane against and that in all he has proven a very good match to Ferguson. The quotes above show Keane's early management style to be quite comparable to Ferguson's style. And how many players has Keane fallen out with anyway? A couple at each of his clubs?
Yet Keane has learnt from this and is quite aware of the effect he has as a manager: -
“Obviously different players have different traits. How you speak to them, who you shout at, who you don't.”
~Roy Keane
“You try to find different ways to motivate people. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. People on the outside might take it up the wrong way.
“My job is to motivate players, to push people and try and get them to another level. That will never change. I’m sick of saying it but I have been like that since I was a young player.
“There’s ways of doing it. I’d like to think I get it right a lot but if there are times you think “well, maybe that was a bit harsh” I’ll have no problem saying to somebody “listen, that was maybe a bit unfair.” You hold your hand up.”
~Roy Keane
As someone mentioned on this thread, the trick is to get the balance right and have a feel for what each player needs. As Keane says, and as Ferguson also demonstrated, no manager will get it right all the time. But if the positives far outweigh the negatives then we are onto something and Keane has certainly achieved that.
A selection of testimony on Keane's man-management skills as both a captain and manager: -
“Off the field as a captain he was amazing, especially to us young lads. He’d look after us with contracts and things like that.
“He used to pick me up occasionally for training and take me home.
“He was a really great guy and I cannot thank him enough for everything he did for me.”
~ Luke Chadwick
“Roy was always wanting the best and he’d always look out for me.
“He only wanted the players to improve all of the time. He's a winner and he wanted to be the best.
“It was an absolute pleasure to play alongside him and be in the dressing room with Roy.”
~John O'Shea
“He was a great influence, really. If Roy had a go at you, he did it because he cared. He was the best captain you could wish for.”
~Darren Fletcher
“I remember when Diego Forlán came in, and it wasn’t quite happening for him. If a player tried – and Diego did – we’d drag him with us; we’d try and help him. Plenty of praise in training, or during games; not getting on his back. Diego was honest, so in training you’d go, ‘Unlucky; it’ll come good tomorrow’, not ‘You can do feckin’ better than that.’”
~Roy Keane
“He was a great presence at United, a man who could lift everyone around him. Even when you thought you were giving 100 per cent, he would somehow squeeze another 10 out of you.”
~Gary Neville
“Roy is a great leader and can cajole team-mates into better performances.”
~Phil Neville
“He was the manager on the football pitch. If you did something wrong you knew about it. He tried to get the best out of everyone to get a result for his team.”
~Paul Scholes
“His motivation worked. He only wanted the best.”
~Andy Cole
“He wants better things all the time and he is a great manager to have around you. He is always trying to get the best out of everyone and produce a great team.
“As a player, it has got to come from yourself, a bit of belief and a bit of drive and a bit of will to win. But the manager has a big influence on that. The lads are oozing with confidence now.”
~Phil Bardsley, Sunderland
“That season when I signed for Sunderland I only played about 10 games because I had a hairline fracture in my spine.
“Throughout that season I was very upset and I put on a lot of weight and I got bigger. But just before the end Roy took me into his office and we had a massive conversation.
“He inspired me to go away in the summer and come back in better shape than I had ever been in. I went and played very well the following season.
“He gave me some strong words of encouragement to go and do that and I will always appreciate it.
“A lot of people don’t know him on a personal level but he definitely has that side to him.”
~Kieran Richardson, Sunderland
"He gave me my debut at Sunderland and had a huge impact over my career. So I have got a lot of thanks to him for that.
"I can never really repay him for that, he started my career as a professional footballer, I learnt a lot from him while I was at Sunderland."
"To work under him was amazing."
~Jordan Henderson, Sunderland
"I have a lot of respect for our old boss Roy.
"He was a nice man. He had a positive impact on every player at the club, he had an aura about him - he's Roy Keane!
"Someone like that is always going to be missed. My game improved under him and it continues to – hopefully."
~Grant Leadbitter, Sunderland
“People look at him and think he is an angry manager, but he gets the best out of players. He got the best out of me.
“I think he would be a great manager now given the opportunity, I really do think that.”
~Danny Higginbotham, Sunderland
"He told me to believe in my ability and, having played in the same position, he taught me a few things about the game which are really helping now. He was very good at building my confidence up.
"I've been on the receiving end of a few of his dressing-room tantrums, but he only did that when it was deserved, when the team hadn't performed. And, much as he could really dish it out, he was always very quick to praise you when you did well."
~Jack Colback, Ipswich
“He is a good manager, passionate about what he does. If you play rubbish, I like a manager to come in and kick me up the backside and tell me what he thinks. Roy was like that.”
~Andros Townsend, Ipswich
“He is actually quite calm most of the time and he is brilliant at taking the pressure off the players.”
~David Norris, Ipswich
“Every time I'm around the squad, he's flooded me with confidence and he's one of the main reasons for my success, so I thank Roy for all his help.”
~Jack Grealish, Aston Villa
“Personally speaking he was fantastic for me. He always made me feel good and he always put in some good finishing sessions. I can’t speak highly enough of him and for me he was fantastic.”
~Darren Bent, Aston Villa
“I had a good working relationship with him. You could always go and talk with him whenever you wanted.”
~Alan Hutton, Aston Villa
“But as time has gone on he's fine to talk to. He's there for advice and he's a good coach. I think he's really enjoying it as well which is important.”
~Seamus Coleman, Republic of Ireland
"Of course he doesn't come in singing and dancing in the morning! But he is a friendly man to speak to and very helpful if you have any questions."
~Eunan O'Kane, Republic of Ireland
So the next time you see a story that Keane has fallen out with a player or poisoned a dressing room, either from the past or in the future, perhaps consider that it's more to do with the media looking for a sensationalist headline, and actually Keane's positive record of man-management far outweighs the negative - not so different to Ferguson's management style and record in fact.
