troadoes: Focus on : Roy Keane As i see it

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Focus on : Roy Keane As i see it

It's hard to think of a weakness in Roy Keane, unless you count his allergy to prawns. In the dozen years he was at Old Traffoid the Irishman developed into the perfect central midfield player and one of the most inspirational captains ever to wear the red shirt. United fans know a player who shares their passion for their club when they see one and Keane came in that bracket. His commitment to his club was total. Of course, there was a downside to the boy from Cork. He was no Corinthian. Keane could be nasty and he was no stranger to referees' notebooks or the august members of the FA's disciplinary committee. But his uncompromising approach to his trade just made the fans love him all the more. He may at times have been a hard-nosed, crude-tackling, ref-baiting felon - but he was their hard-nosed, crude-tackling, refbaiting felon. Keane was vital to United's cause for so long, because the team gained so many different players wrapped up in the one jersey. He was a midfield scrapper without equal, a man who went into challenges with such fierce determination that a 50:50 ball was more like 80:20 in his favour. His reputation saw to that.

And once he had the ball, he was an effective passer. In his heyday, too, he could operate box-to-box in a manner reminiscent of Bryan Robson at his best. And although his goals ratio was not the greatest, he chipped in with important strikes. Most important of all, he was possessed of a drive and a will to win that ensured United were always on the march forward and never beaten until the final whistle sounded. He spread his martial values to the rest of team and made certain that every player operated at full capacity all the time. The notion of United carrying any shirkers or dilettantes while Keane was on the same pitch was unthinkable. The idea is enough to make United fans shudder, but Keane might have missed out on a move to the club. When Brian Clough was ready to let his rough diamond leave Forest in the summer of 1993, Arsenal and Blackburn were in the hunt to sign him. But Ferguson, as he tends to do when a truly great player becomes available, did everything in his power to land Keane and he duly arrived for £3.75 million. It was the beginning of a truly rewarding relationship between player and club.