My favourite ever player but a really complex guy with a lot of conflicting character traits- fear of failure, fear of losing, anger management issues but also a really funny, charming guy at times who seems intelligent and self-deprecating. If ever there was a football player that embodied the flawed hero from books/films it would be Keano. As a fan when I hear he does say something that's controversial I usually laugh because it's funny or just roll my eyes and think 'well, that's just Keano'.
I read some interesting stories a bit back from the 2001 season about Keane with Ireland and Man United- that Eusebio was so impressed with Keane's performance against Portugal he asked for Keane's shirt after the match and that LVG voted for him for the Balon D'or after his performances with Ireland that year. I also read that he suffered a bout of depression after United's loss to Bayern Munich in the CL that season and his criticism of teammates seems to boil over a lot more. When you see someone who won the league with United in 2001 but then says on the champions league exit that 'the players have given it all but they're just not good enough, maybe it's the end of the road for this team' you see how far expectations have fallen now. I wish we had a player that cared half as much now.