Roy Keane - Mr Marmite

Over the years I’ve gone from despising him to having a real begrudging respect for him.
Either way I look at it I can’t ignore the man.
Whenever he speaks I stop and listen, his whole demeanour, facial expressions, attitude to those around him,everything.

I know one thing, two of the best opposition players I saw down the Albion in our early Prem days were him and Viera.

I think he’s even started to lighten up with those around him of late, it makes me smile anyway.

A real character of the game, whether we like him or not.

A mate of mine was sales manager at Diadora and had to deal with Keane a lot.

He said he was a top bloke and the staff at Diadora loved it when he came in,he was friendly and happy doing autographs etc.

Keane told my mate that he couldn’t stand “brown nosers” and “chancers” but if people interacted with him in a normal way and treated him like the ordinary bloke on the street he was fine with them.

Diadora were not a ***y brand and although Keane was offered mega money by other brands like Nike and Adidas he stayed loyal to Diadora and my mate asked him why.

He explained that as a kid when he was broke Diadora were the only brand willing to help him and give him free boots when he was showing real promise.

He’s big on loyalty and felt honour bound to stay with them throughout his career.

This tells me everything I need to know about the bloke......my sort of man!

Regarding his ability Minn.

He’s the single best,most dominating player I’ve witnessed at Albion during the Prem era.

If I was allowed one player pick from the last 20 years of a player in their pomp to play in our side it would be him.

He left the Irish training camp back in the Saipon incident......he wasn't bothered that it was a world cup...he felt the training ground was shyte and the FAI set up for players was shyte and he was fairly immovable on his principles.....
People of principles always make a difference and leave a lasting impression....no wonder why I cant remember anybody's names any more.... O:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dubbag

He left the Irish training camp back in the Saipon incident......he wasn't bothered that it was a world cup...he felt the training ground was shyte and the FAI set up for players was shyte and he was fairly immovable on his principles.....
People of principles always make a difference and leave a lasting impression....no wonder why I cant remember anybody's names any more.... O:)

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We were on stop over for a week in Sydney on our way to Japan/ Korea wc when we heard about that he'd been and gone at wc.

Apparently, his rant got quite personal towards mad mick.

Both being forthright there wasn't going to any backing down.

Heard only 4 ex players had his mobile number as he can't be ar sed with the t wats.

Great player and a honest pundit.

Goes over the top sometimes but he says it how he sees it. I've far more time for him than many of the overly polished presenters and panel 'experts' they roll out. He may have been difficult as a person and something of a hard taskmaster in his professional career but I'd have always wanted a Roy Keane with me than against me.