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Roy Keane is one of football’s last great hardmen and is undoubtedly one of the best midfielders to grace the Premier League. The Irishman had a hugely successful spell at Man United winning 7 Premier League titles, 4 FA Cups and a Champions League trophy.
Well known for his ferocious performances on the pitch but off it Keano has become a great source of entertainment for football fans. An angry and outspoken individual who isn’t afraid to share his brutally honest opinions!
Here are 50 of Roy Keane’s best quotes:
50. On Clive Clarke suffering a heart attack on loan at Leicester
“On a night we got beaten in the cup by Luton, the staff came in and said, ‘Clive Clarke has had a heart attack at Leicester’.”I said, ‘Is he OK? I’m shocked they found one, you could never tell by the way he plays.”
49. Nights out in his hometown of Cork as a youngster
“The amount of fights I’ve had in Cork would probably be another book. I mean, people go on about my problems off the field, but they don’t even know the half of it.”
48. A subtle dig at Rio Ferdinand
“Just because you are paid £120,000-a-week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar.”
47. Classic one liner thrown at Vieira during the tunnel bust up
“Every week you, Senegal this, Senegal that, why don’t you f**kin’ play for them then?”
46. On Playing for the Irish national team
“I love playing for my country but my sanity is more important.”
45. Talking to Mick McCarthy before being sent home from the 2002 World Cup
“Who do you think you are having meetings about me? You were a crap player and you are a crap manager. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country and you’re not even Irish you English ****!”
44. Not a big fan of WAGS
“If they don’t want to come because their wife wants to go shopping in London, it’s a sad state of affairs. To me, that player is weak because his wife runs his life.”
43. On the Alf-Inge Haaland tackle, clearly got the ball
“I’d waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c***. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.” (apparently misquoted in his autobiography by ghostwriter Eamon Dunphy)
42. On football pundits (before he became one)
“Will those on telly yesterday be remembered for what they’ve achieved? None whatsoever. I wouldn’t trust them to walk my dog. There are ex-players and ex-referees being given air-time who I wouldn’t listen to in a pub.”
41. Declaring Liverpool are going nowhere under Klopp back in 2017
“I think if Liverpool were playing out in my back garden, I wouldn’t watch them. They’re just drifting. Drifting nowhere.”
40. On Eden Hazard refusing to rule out a move to PSG
“If I was one of his team-mates I’d kick him up and down the training pitch. Some of the senior players have got to get hold of him. A talented, talented boy but his attitude, even last night, he’s like a spoilt child. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
39. On being punched by Brian Clough
“Cloughie was dead right, absolutely. It was the best thing he ever did for me.”
38. On Motivation
“People ask where my competitive streak comes from. It’s fear. I have a big fear of failure”
37. You can’t be bullying poor Gary Neville
“Maybe Gary deserves to be chased up a tunnel every now and then – there would be a queue for him, probably. But you have to draw a line eventually.”
36. Why he didn’t sign Robbie Savage for Sunderland
“I got Robbie’s mobile number and rang him. It went to his voicemail: ‘Hi, it’s Robbie – whazzup!’ Like the Budweiser ad. I never called him back. I thought: ‘I can’t be f****** signing that’.”
35. On Pablo Couñago at Ipswich Town
“Pablo Couñago was a player I didn’t particularly like or get on with. No club was interested in taking him – and I was happy to tell him that. I just found him dead lazy. He went: ‘How are we going to win anything with you as manager?’ I nearly physically attacked him – but I didn’t.”
34. On Paul Scholes portrayal in the media
“He was a top, top player. But I still don’t fall for the boy-next-door image, or that he’s dead humble. He has more of an edge to him. Everyone thinks he lives in a council flat. The Class of ’92 – all good players, but their role at the club has become exaggerated.”
33. On the modern footballers weak mentality
“People say I’m a bit old school; I call it good school. No matter what’s going on at your club, you go out and give it your all. The idea that these players may be a little bit upset…and it’s not just at United. The modern player, they aren’t just weak players, they are very weak human beings.”
32. On his chances of beating Vieira in a fight
“If it had come to a fight, Patrick [Vieira] could probably have killed me.”
31. Keane’s a shark
“People say ‘go with the flow’ but do you know what goes with the flow? Dead fish.”
30. Ferguson avoids Roy Keane after Sunderland game
“Ferguson never turned up. I thought that was out of order. He called me a few days later to apologise. He said he’d had to rush off after the game and he’d waited a long time for me. I told him he should have a drink with me, like he would have with any other manager, and that he hadn’t shown me or my staff proper respect.”
29. The classic prawn sandwich parade quote
“Away from home our fans are fantastic, I’d call them the hardcore fans. But at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don’t realise what’s going on out on the pitch. I don’t think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell ‘football’, never mind understand it.”
28. On the lack of leadership at Sunderland
“The last song before the players went on to the pitch was ‘Dancing Queen’ by Abba. What really worried me was that none of the players – not one – said: ‘Get that s**t off.’ They were going out to play a match, men versus men, testosterone levels were high. You’ve got to hit people at pace. F*****g’ ‘Dancing Queen.’ It worried me. I didn’t have as many leaders as I thought.”
27. On Nike’s anti-racism wristband campaign in 2004
“Before the game there was all this stuff about anti-racism and anti-bullying. It would be a good idea to start wearing wristbands for anti-diving.”
26. On Tony Cascarino
“There has been lots of things said about me over the years. I am happy to comment on people’s opinion in football I respect, but Tony Cascarino is a man I certainly do not respect, for a lot of reasons, and if I told you, you would be shocked. So the day I worry about Tony Cascarino will be a very sad day of my life.”
25. On getting charged by the FA with misconduct
“The last time I was charged by the FA they had a murder lawyer in against me, so it’s going to be a hard case to win.”
24. On a fall out with Carlos Queiroz
“Don’t you f—ing talk to me about loyalty, Carlos. You left this club after 12 months a few years ago for the Real Madrid job. Don’t you dare question my loyalty.'”
23. First game playing for Celtic – a defeat to Clyde
“When I got on the bus John Hartson, a really good guy, was already sitting there and he was eating a packet of crisps – with a fizzy drink. I said to myself: Welcome to Hell.”
22. The game that made United sign Cristiano Ronaldo
“He was up against John O’Shea. Sheasy ended up seeing the doctor at half time because he was actually having dizzy spells.”
21. On fighting Peter Schmeichel at 4am in a hotel
“He told us that we were a disgrace to the club, and that we’d woken Bobby Charlton up, that Bobby had come out of his room and seen us. Peter took responsibility for the fight, which was good. I admired him for it. But Sir Bobby could have tried to break it up.”
20. Questioning Ferguson’s loyalty to Manchester United
“I remember having conversations about loyalty when I was at the club. I don’t think he knows the meaning of the word. To constantly criticise other players that brought him success. I won’t be losing any sleep over it.”
19. Preparation is key
“Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”
18. Tottenham at home lads
“Please don’t go on about Tottenham, we all know what Tottenham are about. They are nice and tidy but we’ll f****** do them.’ Alex came in and said: ‘Lads, it’s only Tottenham.’ And that was it! Brilliant!”
17. On Dwight Yorke
“Yorkie has officially retired about 5 times… The man’s a clown… People are going on about the game and agents and directors of football and managers losing their jobs, but we should be worried about people like him… Clowns. That’s the last time I’m going to say clown… If he’s the vice-president of FIFA, God help us all.”
16. On Triggs, his Labrador Retriever
“Unlike humans, dogs don’t talk shit.”
15. On Lionel Messi
“I was a big fan of Maradona growing up and of the current crop Ronaldo is good but Messi is the best I’ve ever seen. I don’t dish out praise lightly but Messi deserves it. I look for weaknesses in his game and I can’t find them.”
14. On Darren Fletcher before transforming into a key player for United
“I can’t understand why people in Scotland rave about Darren Fletcher.”
13. On keeping his club car for three months after leaving United
“I drove some f—–g miles in that car. Every little victory is vital.”
12. On his playing style:
“The type of game I play, I’m going to pick injuries and suspensions, unfortunately.”
11. On the difference between Ferguson and Clough
“Different managers, both brilliant. I think Clough’s warmth was genuine, but with Ferguson it was pure business – everything is business.”
10. On De Gea’s first half display against Tottenham
“If I was in that dressing at half-time, I’d swinging punches at him.”
9. Asked if he’d like to have Klopp or Guardiola as a manager
“I wouldn’t want to play for any of them because then I’d have to play for Liverpool or City, shoot me”
8. Response to Tottenham hammering United 6-1
“The performance against Spurs was disgraceful… we’ve been in football, we’ve had bad days, but I thought it was a disgrace to the badge, some of the players’ performance. Too many bluffers, and ultimately I think they will cost Ole his job.”
7. On Jérôme Boateng’s new hairstyle
“This is a player who has just won the Champions League, he’s supposed to be a fierce intimidating defender. Walking round with a haircut like that, looking like Megan Rapinoe…do me a favour”
6. On players dancing in dressing room after games
“When we lost it ruined my mood for days. Current players are too busy filming themselves dancing in the dressing rooms to care about losing”.
5. On the French lads at half-time
“Fabien Barthez and Laurent Blanc used to smoke together in the toilets, at half-time. They were French – they smoked. If it had been a couple of Irish lads, I’d have been shouting at them: Yeh dirty bastards – get out!”
4. On Ian Holloway after Plymouth game
“Ian Holloway was managing Plymouth. I didn’t get a real chance to celebrate the victory because Ian pulled me into a meeting to tell me all about the problems he was having getting training facilities. I was thinking, I don’t give a shit about your training facilities. I just won a game of football.”
3. Not a big fan of WWE
“Last week I saw him (Rooney) slapping a wrestler and I’m thinking ‘Why is he getting involved in all that nonsense?’ There’s no benefit to him. I’d have a look at that side of it.”
2. On his Tattoo
“I’ve got my kids (tattooed) on my right arm: Shannon, Caragh, Aidan and Leah… The wife did ask me why didn’t I get hers and I said ‘they’ll always be my kids but you won’t necessarily always be my wife,’ which she wasn’t too pleased about.”
1. On Ashley Young Diving
“I think the guy’s a disgrace and if he’s a Man United player I’m a Chinaman,”
There you have it, let us know your favourite Roy Keane quotes in the comment section.
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