It was one of the more tedious football stories of 2015. Alex Ferguson had a new book to sell and as part of the promotional tour he mentioned that he only ever managed four truly 'world class' players. Cantona, Scholes, Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo were the chosen few. And that obviously meant that the rest of us started going through the litany of other players that he doesn't think were of the top levels.
More fools we were but nonetheless, the fact that Roy Keane was left out of that top bracket was surely a dig on Fergie's part. The relationship has been frosty at best since Keane's Old Trafford exit and Ferguson was just throwing out little snippets for us all to fight over while he sold shed loads of his new book.
Which is just what happened. Expositions of what 'world class' is started doing the rounds. Arguments for Keane's inclusion followed as did arguments for his exclusion. But when Martin O'Neill's feels like digging it up again, we just couldn't help ourselves.
O'Neill was speaking to Setanta Sports this week and a wide-reaching interview touched on O'Neill's relationship with Keane and he was effusive in his praise for both Keane the man and Keane the player.
He is an iconic figure and not only in Irish football and not only in British football but I'd have to say in world football. The number of people that come up to him all over the world and ask for autographs and photographs is great to see that he's not been forgotten.
Nor should he be. He was a world class player despite what Alex Ferguson might say because he drove that side, not for a month, not for a two months but for about a decade. And he drove them on to success. They had great players at Man United but none of them were as forceful as he was.
That's enough of that then, we'll leave it there.
See also: Martin O'Neill Goes All Out In Response To 'Drivel' Coming Out Of Certain Pundits
"He was a world class player, despite what Sir Alex Ferguson says." - Martin O'Neill on Roy Keane. https://t.co/fvmfdqHWwB
— eir Sport (@eirSport) December 22, 2015
