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Clearing up some myths about Roy Keane

sullydnl

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Two more myths:

1. Roy Keane ended Haaland's career with that tackle.

2. Roy Keane was a somewhat limited footballer who compensated for it with personality and leadership.
 

FujiVice

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False: Keane is a negative influence on the dressing room.
True: Slapped Dean Whitehead in the dressing room, said Clive Clarke's heartattack was a surprise because he showed no heart in his team and sent Dwight Yorke to train with the kids because he felt Yorke had more influence on the players than he did. You can put as many quotes as you want when it comes to who likes Keane, but the facts are he devides opinion. And when you're a manager, you never want to do that.
 

DanClancy

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i'm always amazed how everyone turns a blind eye to Robbo's indiscretions and lack of professionalism whist would be the same people who would criticise Keane for his.
 

FujiVice

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i'm always amazed how everyone turns a blind eye to Robbo's indiscretions and lack of professionalism whist would be the same people who would criticise Keane for his.
That's not true to be fair. Keane's criticisms are hindsight type stuff. Guarantee there were more excuses made for Roy Keane by the fans (myself included) when he played for us. Keane was involved in a brawl and was arrested just because the FA Cup final one year. During the biggest week of Sir Alex's life (the week before the CL final) he was up one morning with Steve McLaren and Head of Security Ned Kelly sorting that out. But we all took it with a pinch of salt because it was Keano. Facts are, you always treat your heroes differently. Even Ferguson treated Cantona with kid gloves.
 

DanClancy

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Are they anywhere near as high profile though?
Probably not but Robbo may not affected his performances but he sure did affect those around him, it will be an unpopular view but Robbo off the pitch wasn't a great captain.
 

WhoDaGOAT

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The thing is, Sir Alex Ferguson is probably the biggest cnut alive. He was a great manager and I had no real issue with his style of management due to how beneficial it was to the club I support.

But there's no doubt about it, you would not like Fergie if you were an opposition fan or player. Some of it was just trolling by him, but he could be genuinely nasty. He's certainly no angelic gentleman. Sir or not.

For anyone who has any issue with Keane, look at how their beloved "Ginger Prince" Scholes has conducted himself since retiring. Keane is often just brutally honest in his analysis. Scholes sounds bitter that the Ferguson era is over and often comes across as a puppet.

Keane vs Vieira in the tunnel should be enough to prove to any United fan where his loyalties were and still are. He loves this club. He still goes to games with his son. United through and through.
 

FujiVice

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Probably not but Robbo may not affected his performances but he sure did affect those around him, it will be an unpopular view but Robbo off the pitch wasn't a great captain.
I'd say Robbo was a great captain off the field. Robbo liked a drink, he wasnt Paul Gascoigne. He had the respect of everyone in the dressing room. He was the man who balanced the drinking culture out when Fergie wanted the days of long nights out finished. If you read any United book from the 90s, Robbo was essential in helping the likes of Giggs, Keane, Sharpe and the like settle into the club. Schmeichel, Bruce, Pallister Robson, Irwin and Hughes all shared the bond because they were social with each other off the pitch as well as on it. The team spirit of that 92-95 team was arguably the best in Fergie's tenure here.
 

Sammyjunn

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The thing is, Sir Alex Ferguson is probably the biggest cnut alive. He was a great manager and I had no real issue with his style of management due to how beneficial it was to the club I support.

But there's no doubt about it, you would not like Fergie if you were an opposition fan or player. Some of it was just trolling by him, but he could be genuinely nasty. He's certainly no angelic gentleman. Sir or not.

For anyone who has any issue with Keane, look at how their beloved "Ginger Prince" Scholes has conducted himself since retiring. Keane is often just brutally honest in his analysis. Scholes sounds bitter that the Ferguson era is over and often comes across as a puppet.

Keane vs Vieira in the tunnel should be enough to prove to any United fan where his loyalties were and still are. He loves this club. He still goes to games with his son. United through and through.
Give me a few examples where Scholes wasnt spot on? It'a harsh what he says but mostly still true.
 

FujiVice

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Give me a few examples where Scholes wasnt spot on? It'a harsh what he says but mostly still true.
The Rooney worship is a bit much, but generally, yeah, I find myself agreeing with most of what he says. Thing is, his bluntness isnt a new thing. That's what his team mates have said about him since he was 20. He just comes out with some real shit occassionally.
 

Shinehead Dred

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Was wondering how long before the Keane is a God thread started. Poor bloke. Feel sorry for him really.
 

kundalini

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From Keane's perspective, there had been a lowering of standards with the club finishing 3rd in the previous two seasons and to be fair, at that time, he was playing alongside the likes of Bellion, Miller and Gibson.
Not very often, given the number of matches they started for United. Only Miller was what might be described as a regular first team squad member and he soon found himself on the bench more often. It's a bit like saying Rooney was pissed off because he had to play alongside Donald Love, McNair and Weir last season; technically true because all 3 had mins on the pitch but a travesty in terms of a realistic picture of events.

One of the main reasons for the lowering of standards, was ironically, Roy Keane having to be accommodated in a 3 man central midfield because his legs had gone. Players are great at criticising others but very poor at recognising when they themselves are no longer at an acceptable level. See Wayne Rooney in recent years for further evidence of this myopia. Or indeed Rio's criticism of Moyes without mentioning just how woeful his own form was during that season.
 
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gav81

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Keane and Fergie were too similar.
You said it :)

Keane said it: -

“Me and Alex Ferguson, we had the same type of traits, of what Manchester United was about. I think that probably created the problems towards to the end.”
~Roy Keane​


Teammates said it: -

“Keaney, just similar to the manager in his desire and hunger.”
~Ryan Giggs​


Media commentators said it: -

“Ferguson and Keane are kindred spirits, and what he saw in Keane, I think was something he had in himself, which was his hunger, his appetite, his complete and utter single-minded desire to win.”
~Andrew Longmore, Senior Sports Writer, Sunday Times​


The great man said it: -

“When I look at Roy Keane I often see myself, I equate this to his passion, desire and striving for perfection. He cares. He's a born winner. He is the driving force, the inspiration, the best reader of the game, the best talker of the game, the biggest winner.”
~Alex Ferguson​


Yes there is certainly a likeness between Keane and Ferguson.


What suitable role would you find for him inside the club?
Did I mention there is a likeness between Keane and Ferguson?
 

gav81

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It depends exactly how bad you think he is. He left his only two clubs in the relegation zone. No amount of praise from past players or colleagues can change that.
Careful, you could create a new myth here.

It is true that when Keane left Sunderland early in the 2008-09 season the club were 18th in the Premier League (incidentally, on goal difference, level on points with Tottenham and Newcastle, only 2pts behind Man City). It is also true that had Keane and Sunderland continued the point per game average they had achieved so far that season, they would not have been relegated.

So, perhaps it is a meaningless fact, but I'll give you it.

It is not true that Keane left Ipswich in the relegation zone. The club were 19th out of 24 teams and had a game in hand on most of the teams below and also on Bristol City who were in striking distance above them.

In the end, neither Sunderland or Ipswich finished in the relegation zone either during Keane's tenure or in the season(s) that he left. There is nothing to say that, given a bit of time, he couldn't have made a success of what he was creating at the clubs.

And anyway...

It didn't harm Pochettino when he left Espanyol rock bottom of la Liga, or Antonio Conte when he was relegated to Serie C1 with Arezzo or even when he left Atalanta second-bottom of Serie A, or Diego Simeone when he left River Plate bottom with only six games remaining, or dare I say, Mourinho when he left Chelsea one point above the relegation zone only last season.

Yet they have gone on to successfully manage Tottenham, Juventus, Chelsea, Atletico and even Manchester United. I think success is more about getting the right manager at the right club.
 

gav81

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The overall style of football was changing from being a pure adrenaline sport to something which was more artful and cultured. These players needed to be dealt with in a certain way and Keane was definitely not up for it.
I'm going to call myth on the idea that Keane cannot work with artful and cultured players. Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably one of the most skillful players ever. How did his development go under the tutelege and captaincy of Keane?

Keane on Ronaldo: -

“I liked Ronaldo straight away. He had a nice presence about him and a good attitude.

“After watching him train for a few days I thought: “This lad is going to be one of the best players in the world.”

“He was immediately one of the hardest working players at United.”


~Keane


“Of course, yeah. Obviously different players have different traits. How you speak to them, who you shout at, who you don't. I didn't shout at Ronaldo that much. I didn't have to.”
~Keane​


Ronaldo on Keane: -

“I had a good relationship with Keane. I was very pleased that a great player with a big name in football told the manager to sign me.”
~Ronaldo

“[Keane was] always screaming to me: 'Cristiano! Pass the ball!' Ronaldo told Sport magazine. 'But it was good! At the end of the day, I feel happy because I learned a lot from them.”
~Ronaldo​


Good times: -



And more recently (showing the relationship has lasted): -



There are other examples I can give but it seems to me the two worked well and benefited one another, because of course, all the talent in the world is nothing without a workrate and drive to match.
 

clarkydaz

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ill just add in the video showdown, at meltdown he supposedly turned to Fergie himself and said "you too, we need more from you aswell gaffer!" :lol:
 

Kag

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A lot of young people (even some of those in their twenties) think that Keane was just some half-witted hatchet man that was a leader at United.

From a footballing perspective he's outrageously underapprecited amongst those who didn't really get to see him play in his prime. Whether that's a myth or not, I don't know, but it's quite sad nonetheless.
 

Silas

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He does say a lot of bullshit at times. What suitable role would you find for him inside the club?
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/bringing-back-the-united-philosophy-roy-keane-for-manager.416682/
From the OP himself.
Why isn't Roy Keane mentioned more as a candidate for United manager?

For the last three seasons, I have watched United's identity slip away both on and off the pitch. I have seen us play conservative football and draw or lose games with a whimper. I have seen the manager and player interviews after a game where they look so flat and crestfallen. No one fears us in the way they did any more. And I think to myself... this is not the United I know.

That loss of winning mentality arrived when Ferguson retired. It is the result of Moyes who, for example, accepted Liverpool were coming to Old Trafford as favourites and said we have to aspire to City's level. It is the result of Van Gaal and his defence-first football. I hate to disappoint anyone hoping for Mourinho, but his approach is not so different. These managers have their own philosophies, but it is not the United philosophy, and Ferguson isn't coming back.

Then I remember Keane, the most successful captain in our history...

He had an intensity leading the team onto the pitch which fortified his team-mates and intimidated the opposition before the game even kicked-off. We played the game with fight and energy, excitement and goals. Whenever United were behind we could be sure the opposition box would be under siege from wave after wave of attack during the final minutes. When we did lose, Keane, like Ferguson, would have fire in his eyes. We need that anger and edge to our game. It was a resolve and winning mentality even in defeat that said woe betide our next opponents. This is the mentality I want to see back at United.

Whilst that was in his playing days, many have commented that Keane's main strength wasn't in his football skill but in his motivational ability. His passion, drive, hunger, desire and will-to-win spread throughout the team. Keane retains those attributes, not to mention a love of United, which are equally as applicable in management as in his captaincy.

I know some will say Keane has made mistakes (the infamous MUTV interview, for example) but much of that was over a decade ago. Keane is now 44 years old and an experienced manager of 10 years at Championship, Premier League and International levels.

I also know there is the fallout with Ferguson but alongside that both have continued to offer great praise and compliments to each other over the years. As a business relationship I don't think it is anything that cannot be fixed. Keane and Niall Quinn had a much worse fallout before going on to have a successful manager/chairman relationship at Sunderland.

I have a lot of evidence I can share on the thread in the way of quoted testimony to Keane's motivational skills, how he has developed and improved players, the praise he has received from former team-mates and players he has managed, recommendations for him in a management role, etc.

It certainly worked for Guardiola at Barcelona, Simeone at Atletico, Conte at Juventus and de Boer at Ajax – these are all former leaders and captains of those teams who carried the philosophy they developed in their playing days back into management of the clubs.

Likewise, I believe Roy Keane is the only manager who can now bring the United philosophy back to Old Trafford and continue the dynasty of Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson.

What about you?
 

Jerch

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Great read and I agree with OP. Some comments about Keane on this forum are disgrace,

On the other hand if he would say that only WC players in the league are coming from your rival club few days before the derby he would deserve a lot of crtitics...
 

Stack

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Spot on Stack. Two great players but Robson every time.
I do prefer Robson to Keane but I was just stirring a bit with that comment.
Youn are however spot on when saying they were 2 great players. I see these claims that Keane doesnt get proper recognition, I dont get that at all. I think Keane is seen as one of our greats and that he gets a decent chunk of credit for the successes we had when he played. He gets great recognition.
 

SirScholes

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That's a lot of words for the few points no-one disputes.

Brilliant, brilliant player and leader.
Rubbish manager.
Idiot of a man.
summed up in just one post, the op could of saved a lot of time
 

Mciahel Goodman

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Aside from Cantona, Keane was the most important player in this club's last two decades or so.
 

Barca84

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I do prefer Robson to Keane but I was just stirring a bit with that comment.
Youn are however spot on when saying they were 2 great players. I see these claims that Keane doesnt get proper recognition, I dont get that at all. I think Keane is seen as one of our greats and that he gets a decent chunk of credit for the successes we had when he played. He gets great recognition.
I think he does too. But I think there is, in some quarters, a perceived lack of recognition that has it's roots beyond matters of mere football.

Both of them were a poor man's Remi Moses anyways :p