ROY KEANE retired from football today.
Oh, how we loved his battles with Patrick Vieira.Those two gave us a lot to talk about and we won’t see giant gladiators go eyeball-to-eyeball like that again.We mean it, maaaan !!!
We won’t look on their like again.
Once, when George Graham was manager of Arsenal, he had warnings from his scouts and so he switched his team around, putting Lee Dixon in midfield to mark a seventeen year old Irish boy.
It didn’t work and Arsenal’s senior players were very pissed off with George for doing that.
In his autobiography, Roy noted that with Brian Clough at Forest it was, “Play it as you see it.” With Ireland under Jack Charlton it was, “Play it as I see it.”
His rages about prawn sandwiches and Rolex watches were wonderful.
It’s a compelling tale in which he recalls a Champions League semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen. First game at Old Trafford is a 2-2 draw and Roy scores the first goal over there, but the Germans equalise before half-time and go through on away goals.
Keane says United settled for the reflected glow of the 1999 treble year.He described Blanc and Veron and others after that game.
“Afterwards in the dressing room I looked around. It wasn’t hurting some of them enough. Laurent was sitting there gutted.I felt sorry for Seba.Cost £28 million, became the scapegoat for our season. Some of the others were getting away with murder.Blame Seba. Too easy. Wrong. Glory, believing the publicity, has cost us.Rolex watches, garages full of cars, fucking mansions, set up for life, forgot about the game, lost the hunger that got you the Rolex, the cars, the mansion.”
Thanks for everything, Roy. Especially the passion.