Who's in the mood for another Roy Keane takes no shit story? Because this is a good one.
On the "Match of the Day: Top 10" podcast this week, Ian Wright and Alan Shearer both picked their top 10 European players in Premier League history and guess who they both agreed was no.1? Keano.
"He was, for me, the best captain in the Premier League," said Wright. "What he ushered in with the [Class of] 92, with the great players around him and the consistency of his performances, without comprimising exactly what he was about, in respect of the way he sees the game, his principles and his morals; honestly, I've got so much admiration for Roy Keane."
He and Keane were of course part of the ITV punditry team for the 2018 World Cup. Sure who can forget Keane poking fun at Wright and all of England for losing the run of themselves?
Off-air, the two lads were getting on well together but Wright fell foul of Keane's standards on one occasion, as he explained on the BBC podcast this week:
Another #MOTDTop10 episode, another brilliant Roy Keane story 😂
Join @garylineker @ianwright0 and @alanshearer as they discuss the Premier League's best European imports. .
Download the podcast via @bbcsounds 👉 https://t.co/nYEkLnvWM4 pic.twitter.com/vmxxKpwpHv— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 17, 2020
"We were at the World Cup together and we spent a lot of time together. And, you know, I was thinking 'Oh my Gosh, we're really cool mates and it's fine.' And I remember this one time I said 'Roy, we'll go for lunch.'
"He said 'OK, Wrighty, I'll see you at 1:15pm.'"
Wright had to go do some other work in the morning time and got a little delayed. "I got there, it must have been 1:17pm, maximum. And I was waiting down there and I thought 'Where is he?' I phone him up and I said 'Roy, I'm in the lobby, what are you doing?'"
"He said 'Wrighty, what time did we say?'
"I said '1:15pm, it's just just 1:17pm now.'
"He says 'Wrighty 1:15pm is 1:15pm. I'm not coming.'"
"And I laughed because I thought he was only messing about. And I said 'Haha, nice one Keano! And he said 'Wrighty, I'm not coming,' and he hung up the phone."
The pair didn't see each other until that evening, when Keane greeted him with one of his smiles and said "Nah, Wrighty, this is why ... This is why Manchester United were so successful. We did what needed to be done on time. We did what we needed to do."
Wright told Lineker and Shearer: "That's what made me think with Roy Keane, that to be under him - under his stewardship - as a captain, he would take nothing in respect of failure. For me, that was failure."
It made the rest of us think that Keane just loves winding Wright up!
Yes Roy Keane, saying what every Scottish, Welsh and Irish football fan was thinking #ENG pic.twitter.com/zpkbFMxB4H
— 🏴Gordon Strachan🏴 (@weeGordieStrach) July 11, 2018
To be fair to Wright, his admiration for Keane shines through during the dicussion on the podcast. He goes on to tell the lads just how knowledgeable Keane is about the game today and he told another funny story about a misjudged text he sent him when he heard Keane wanted to get back into management.
You can listen to the full thing here. The Keane discussion starts at 30:14.
