It's fair to say that Alan Shearer and Roy Keane weren't exactly the best of pals during their respective playing careers.
The Newcastle United and Manchester United legends famously clashed in a Premier League game at St. James's Park in 2001, and have appeared to remain frosty ever since.
They have both moved into punditry since retirement, with Shearer a far more long-term presence on our TV screens than Roy Keane, whose presence has come to dominate Sky Sports panels in recent years.
Previously a bit of a dry presence on panels, Shearer's rapport with fellow pundits Gary Lineker, Ian Wright, and Micah Richards, has seen him vastly improve as a pundit in recent years.
On the recent Match of the Day Top 10 podcast, host Gary Lineker tasked Alan Shearer and Micah Richards to rank a list of ten top footballing pundits from best to worst. The likes of Gary Neville and Ian Wright were all in the mix, and both Shearer and Richards went for very different approaches in rating their fellow experts.
Despite their differences in their playing days - and despite ranking him in a low position in his top ten - Shearer would praise Roy Keane's ability to capture the emotion of a match, saying that it was the quality which made him a "box-office" pundit.
Alan Shearer highlights best trait of Roy Keane punditry
Alan Shearer has been a regular pundit on Match of the Day and BBC's World Cup coverage for over 15 years now, and has seen the landscape of football punditry dramatically change in that time.
Speaking on the Match of the Day Top 10 podcast alongside Micah Richards and Gary Lineker, Shearer summed up how social media had changed the game for pundits, and why Roy Keane was the perfect "box-office" pundit for the modern era:
All of the companies now are just one-clicks. They've got so much creativity online and it's a huge part of their business now.
You might deliver the best bit of analysis, and someone sat next to you will hammer someone and criticise someone, and that will be looked at as being more important, more relevant, than the brilliant piece of analysis where you're telling the public something that they can't see.
I think Roy does that more than anyone. Roy doesn't really do much analysis but because of his career and because of who he is, because of how great he was, he's probably entitled to do that more than someone who didn't have the career of himself.
But Roy is box-office. Roy doesn't do much analysis but what he does is...because of his personality and the way he is, he is box-office because he is not afraid to hammer someone, or to be really critical of someone.
It's hard to argue with Shearer, with Keane's almost cold-blooded style of punditry being what has endeared him to so many fans.
"I am disgusted with it. Maguire? de Gea? Hang your heads in shame."
"I'd be swinging punches at that guy."
Roy Keane is absolutely FURIOUS at that Tottenham goal...😳 pic.twitter.com/fC97LLKHcf— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) June 19, 2020
Nonetheless, it would not help Keane when it came to Shearer ranking his favourite pundits, as he had Keane in 9th place. Shearer said that he had factored in the lack of detailed analysis given by the likes of Keane into his decision making.
Overall, Shearer's top ten was a rather eclectic one. Indeed, he placed himself ahead of Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, and - much to the shock of the man sitting across from him - Micah Richards.
His top five was also highly suspect, with much-maligned pundits Graeme Souness and Rio Ferdinand ranking very highly in Shearer's list.
- Ian Wright
- Graeme Souness
- Gary Neville
- Rio Ferdinand
- Alan Hansen
- Jimmy Hill
- Alan Shearer
- Jamie Carragher
- Roy Keane
- Micah Richards
He may be "box-office" rather than the most detailed football analyst you'll ever find, but we'd take Roy Keane over Souness any day of the week...
SEE ALSO: Alex Ferguson Felt "Ludicrous" 2013 Red Card Cost United The Champions League
