David Walsh in The Sunday Times today.
‘Listening to Roy Keane shoot the breeze with Gary Neville on a recent Sky Sports podcast, I thought about those who early in their lives developed an allergy to Keane. I felt sympathy for them. It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to suggest that Keane’s capacity to be boring may be the lowest ever recorded in a human being. And this was the former Manchester United captain at his most genial.
He was telling Neville about the early years at Old Trafford, times when he was a kid mixing with old-school pros. This was the era of Norman Whiteside, Lee Sharpe and others who knew their way round Manchester night spots. The young Keane enjoyed a drink and it was customary for a group of United players to hit the town after a midweek game.
United’s manager had his informants and more than once Keane was asked to account for his late-night movements. “Alex Ferguson pulled me many times going, ‘You were out in Manchester and got a taxi at 2.30am.’
“I would go, ‘Yeah, I did but it’s not breaking the 48-hour rule in our contracts.’
“I used to argue with him and then he’d ask, ‘How many drinks did you have?’
“Then I’d lie to him. I would say to him, ‘Maybe ten or eleven bottles.’ He’d reply, ‘Ten or eleven bottles?’ If only I told him the truth. That was every hour! You told the odd white lie as you’re going along obviously, but you’re having a laugh and getting away with it. I wouldn’t change any of it.”
By way of further explanation, he said they were young and they were having the time of their lives. Young men, doing the things young men do. They weren’t role models then and I don’t see that much has changed in this respect. Which is no bad thing.’
Nice turn of phrase in the first paragraph.
‘Listening to Roy Keane shoot the breeze with Gary Neville on a recent Sky Sports podcast, I thought about those who early in their lives developed an allergy to Keane. I felt sympathy for them. It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to suggest that Keane’s capacity to be boring may be the lowest ever recorded in a human being. And this was the former Manchester United captain at his most genial.
He was telling Neville about the early years at Old Trafford, times when he was a kid mixing with old-school pros. This was the era of Norman Whiteside, Lee Sharpe and others who knew their way round Manchester night spots. The young Keane enjoyed a drink and it was customary for a group of United players to hit the town after a midweek game.
United’s manager had his informants and more than once Keane was asked to account for his late-night movements. “Alex Ferguson pulled me many times going, ‘You were out in Manchester and got a taxi at 2.30am.’
“I would go, ‘Yeah, I did but it’s not breaking the 48-hour rule in our contracts.’
“I used to argue with him and then he’d ask, ‘How many drinks did you have?’
“Then I’d lie to him. I would say to him, ‘Maybe ten or eleven bottles.’ He’d reply, ‘Ten or eleven bottles?’ If only I told him the truth. That was every hour! You told the odd white lie as you’re going along obviously, but you’re having a laugh and getting away with it. I wouldn’t change any of it.”
By way of further explanation, he said they were young and they were having the time of their lives. Young men, doing the things young men do. They weren’t role models then and I don’t see that much has changed in this respect. Which is no bad thing.’
Nice turn of phrase in the first paragraph.
