When Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira did the 'Best of Enemies' documentary a couple of years ago, it was a rather entertaining way to see the frost come off one of the most entertaining rivalries in football. Keane himself later admitted that he thought the show was a bit 'cheesy', but as is our want, the rest of us ate it up let we'd never seen a bit of cheese before in our lives.
It may have been staged but it gave us a chance to see how two of football's great enemies interacted when they actually had to talk to each other. It was like Jersey Shore for Premier League fans. It looked like Keane and Vieira had actually started to get on well given that their playing careers had finished and there was nothing really to fight about. It was professional, it was courteous and everything from the past might as well have been water under the bridge.
They're so pally now that Roy Keane is even on hand to provide some soundbites when Vieira is up for a slightly unnecessary, but nonetheless well deserved, award. However, that's not to say Roy Keane is a man to let everything fade into distant memory.
Vieira was being honoured by the Football Writers' Association at a ceremony in London on Sunday night and Keane was asked to pay tribute to the man who made his career that little bit brighter as a result of their rivalry. It must be said, he did that rather well but not before he let everyone know that he still doesn't like the ex-Arsenal midfielder.
Presenting the first sentence of the first page of the Roy Keane book of being sound every now again: Make sure to get the dig in first.
I don't think we'll ever be bosom buddies buying each other a drink in the pub but out of everybody I ever faced as a player, he drove me to become better.
Obviously Arsenal were the team that really challenged Manchester United and, for a short time, went past us. And as their leader Patrick was immense.
Without doubt I'd put him alongside Zidane, Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard as one of the very best I've ever played with or against, he was that good. On his day, when he was driving Arsenal on with the sheer force of his personality, he was unplayable.
Nicely played Roy. He paid tribute to the man of the evening while reminding everyone that he'll never let go of a grudge. We'd expect nothing less from him.
