He’s very much an acquired taste, but there was no doubting Roy Keane’s footballing ability and nor is there any argument over his brilliant punditry.
Both at Nottingham Forest as a youngster and latterly at Manchester United, Keane always led from the front and demanded the best of his team-mates.
His ultra-competitive side often got him in trouble, and he was a nightmare to deal with on the pitch at times, as the likes of David Elleray, Patrick Vieira, Alf-Inge Haaland and Gareth Southgate will no doubt attest.
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In the most successful Red Devils side of modern times, he was the driving force.
Oddly, he wasn’t ever really able to transfer his abilities into management. Having played under two of the greatest in Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson, Keane would’ve arguably picked up a thing or two, but his spells at Sunderland (bar his first season there) and Ipswich were relative failures.
That hasn’t stopped former Manchester United colleague, Teddy Sheringham, suggesting that Keane deserves another crack at a top job.
“Footballing mentality would probably say that Roy Keane needs another job,” he told CardsChat, cited by the Daily Star.
“I think if you would ask him, honestly, what he wants, he wants to prove himself as a top manager. I’ve got to be honest, I think he’s got what it takes to be a top manager.
“He has that desire – he demands the highest standards when people are around him at the football ground, whether it be a player or a manager, and I think he could do a good job.
“He’s very single-minded, speaks his mind probably a little bit too much at times to be a manager, but if he could tone that down a little bit, then who knows?”
Keane’s acerbic tongue and critique as a pundit has made him a must watch, and it’s difficult to see him moving on from something he does very well indeed.
However, as we all know in football, you never say never.