Roy Keane

Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football assistant manager and former professional football player. He is the most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies, 17 of which came at Manchester United, in his club career.

Quotes
"I can look back and think 'I'm just one of the luckiest people in the world'." On his career

"Fail to prepare, prepare to fail."

"Even in the dressing room afterwards, I had no remorse. My attitude was, fuck him. What goes around comes around. He got his just rewards. He fucked me over and my attitude is an eye for an eye." Talking about Alf Inge Haaland tackle, Observer Sport Monthly Magazine

"I'd waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you cunt. And don't ever stand over me again sneering about fake injuries. And tell your pal [David] Wetherall there's some for him as well. I didn't wait for Mr Elleray to show the red card. I turned and walked to the dressing room." Talking about Alf Inge Haaland tackle, quoted in book Keane - the Autobiography

"I was a bit annoyed with the first offer put to me. Deep down they must have known it wasn't something I could sign. Our dealings have to be realistic. I am not naive enough to settle for anything less than a reasonable valuation of my worth." Annoyed by contract offer

"I'm not one for holding grudges but this was a stupid mistake, a bad public relations exercise and something that should never have happened. I'm still waiting for my apology but I could be waiting a long time." United blame ticket price rises on his salary

"The younger players have been let down by some of the more experienced players. They are just not leading. There is a shortage of characters in this team. It seems to be in this club that you have to play badly to be rewarded. Maybe that is what I should do when I come back. Play badly."

"Sometimes you wonder, do they understand the game of football? Away from home our fans are fantastic, I'd call them the hardcore fans. But at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch. I don't think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell football, never mind understand it." On section of Old Trafford crowd

"That man can rot in hell for all I care." About Ireland soccer manager Mick McCarthy, Observer Sport Monthly Magazine

"Before the game there was all this stuff about anti-racism and anti-bullying. It would be a good idea to start wearing wristbands for anti-diving."

"Just because you are paid £120,000 a week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar." On former team-mate Rio Fedinand

"Patrick Vieira is 6 foot 4, and he starts having a go at Gary Neville, so I said, "come on have a go at me, that's it."

"If you love Senegal so much, why don't you go play for them?" To Patrick Vieira in the Highbury tunnel

"Dwight's a clown and he's on an ego trip; he's brought this on himself. He's retired from international football about five times." On former team-mate Dwight Yorke

“If you are driving to work, don’t get into a car with Liam Miller because he gets involved in more car crashes than anybody I know.” On former team-mate Liam Miller

"Cloughie was dead right, absolutely. It was the best thing he ever did for me. It's good to get angry. It's an emotion and part of the game. It's good to go a bit mad but I don't throw teacups around. That's not my style - I'd rather throw punches." On being punched in the face by Brian Clough

“On a night we got beaten in the cup by Luton, the staff came in and said, ‘Clive Clarke has had a heart attack at Leicester’.”I said, ‘Is he OK? I’m shocked they found one, you could never tell by the way he plays’.” Roy's behind the scenes honesty at a time of crisis

"Aggression is what I do. I go to war. You don't contest football matches in a reasonable state of mind." On his all-action playing style

"The amount of fights I've had in Cork would probably be another book. I mean, people go on about my problems off the field, but they don't even know the half of it." On bar room brawls in Cork

“Priorities have changed in football and [players] are being dictated to by their wives.” On the perils of materialism

“I’m not at Manchester United to keep everyone happy.”

"If you came down from the moon today and knew nothing about football you'd say United are an average Premier League side. Nothing more. They are Manchester United of the 1980s, they can be a decent cup team. I did fear the worst today and it could have been a lot more. Towards the end Liverpool just toyed with them. United were not at the races. I certainly believe a lot of the players playing for United today are not good enough for Manchester United."

On Manchester United 1-3 Liverpool, on December 16, 2018.

"Ferguson came out afterwards and said he always did what was best by Manchester United. Nonsense.“His son Darren played for the club and won a league medal...[he was] very lucky."[Alex Ferguson's] brother was the chief scout for Manchester United for a long time."I'm surprised his wife wasn't involved in the staff somewhere."Darren was [the manager] at Preston North End and lost his job. He had a couple of young players on loan from Manchester United, [but] guess what happens the next day?"They're pulled out of Preston. Is that doing the best for Manchester United? Do me a favour."

Quotes about Roy Keane
“He looked like a Manchester United player as soon as I saw him. We played him at Forest and the way he played told me a lot about the lad. His determination, his energy, his attitude to losing and winning told me something about him before we even got him. With Roy Keane present, keeping the ball was never a problem. I said so from the minute he came to the club. ‘He never gives the ball away, this guy,’ I told the staff and players.” — Sir Alex Ferguson

“Roy’s obsession with winning and the demands he put on others made him the most influential player in the dressing room. He became a great captain through that and, to my mind, he is the best player I have had in all of my time here. Over the years when they start picking the best teams of all time, he will be in there.” — Sir Alex Ferguson’s quotes on Roy Keane’s retirement in 2006

“He was the best in midfield; he could play everywhere. He could play the holding role and be defensive, but then he could suddenly burst forward and score goals. He was so intelligent in how he played the game and let me tell you, it felt good to have him behind me for four seasons. He’d win the ball and then give it to me. And what a character!” — Eric Cantona

“Roy was unbelievable to play alongside and someone you could always trust. I soon learned that if you weren’t on your game he would be on top of you to make sure you were playing your part for the team. I had a few bollockings from him, but that made you work harder to avoid them. He was a great leader and captain: he drove us on and he was our manager on the pitch.” — Paul Scholes

“Every training session would be like a cup final; he would drive you on in every single game, and he was one of the reasons we got so many late goals, he would drive the team forward. With him in the team you always felt like you had a chance. The best captain I played under. A brilliant player who led by example. He would be the first name on my team sheet. “You never felt you were beaten when Keaney was in your team. He never threw in the towel. I don’t think any of the rest of us were less determined to win than Keaney, but what makes him different is the way he gets it across, his anger if you like. More than any other player I’ve seen, he affects players around him.” — Ryan Giggs

“He was a great player, beyond question. A midfielder of extraordinary tenacity and box-to-box dynamism, with a ferocious tackle and an underrated ability to use the ball astutely. But perhaps his greatest gift was to create a standard of performance which demanded the very best from his team. There wasn’t a player at United who could match Roy’s influence in my time at the club.” — Gary Neville (in his autobiography “Red: My Autobiography”)

“I remember my first training session: I got the ball from the keeper, I passed it to Gary Neville at right back and Keane just exploded, saying: ‘You passed it sideways, that’s the easy pass! You’re not at Leeds or West Ham now!’ At the time I thought: ‘What’s he talking about?’ Then when I got home, I sat and thought about it and thought: ‘Yeah, you’ve got to try and affect the game’.” — Rio Ferdinand

“He was the greatest captain I ever played for and the person that I learned most from in my career in terms of standards that you’ve got to keep. In terms of leading a team from the front, in terms of never giving up, never letting your team-mates down and standing up for your team-mates when they’re in trouble. You talk about Alex Ferguson not giving me a telling off; you got a telling off of Roy if you dropped your standards. As a player, I don’t think people realise how good a player he was. People say he was tough, he was aggressive. He was a brilliant passer of the ball, he was as brave as a lion in terms of getting on the ball He used to always say if I was at left back or right back, ‘If you’re having trouble and I’ve got men round me, just give me the ball I’ll get you out of trouble’ And you can trust him with your life. He was brilliant in the last couple of years when I stepped into midfield and played alongside him. You just felt safe with him being in your team. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone close to that kind of level of leadership that Roy gave that United team over a four or five year period” – Phil Neville

“If I could pick one player in my team, I would always pick Roy Keane, in front of any other players I’ve played with. Keano had everything; he was a leader, a great player, and probably the best I ever played with.” — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

“For me a complete player, without a doubt Keano. Apart from the bad side he had, he was the complete midfield player for me. He was an inspiration, a leader, could score you vital goals, he could tackle when he had to, he would be naughty when he had to but playing alongside him for three or four seasons helped me improve my game a lot.” — Paul Ince

“You need someone in a team to dictate the pace of the play and Roy does that perfectly. He defends – he’s a good tackler and a good header of the ball – and starts attacks, and passes the ball with metronomic accuracy. He works tirelessly and demands so much from his team-mates. When things are tough, like they were when United were 2-0 down in Turin in the 1999 European Cup Semi-Final, Keane gets going. But even when things are going well, he drives the team on.” — Teddy Sheringham