Roy Keane must be on hard times. We don't have any access to his financial records, but we do have access to Google. Back in 2008, Keane revealed he would never veer into the punditry booth again unless he had "fallen on hard times". We know now that Keane, who has never shied away from slamming the vacuous art of football punditry, will be buddying up with football mastermind Adrian Chiles in the ITV studio for the Champions League final tomorrow. It's not that we don't to hear Keane's opinions on Carrick, Xavi, Iniesta and Alex Ferguson's skulduggery. We really do. We just can't help but note Keane's thought on punditry way back in 2008:
"I was asked by ITV to do the Celtic versus Manchester United game but I've done it once for Sky and never again," Keane said. "I'd rather go to the dentist.
"You're sitting there with people like Richard Keys and they're trying to sell something that's not there.
"Anytime I watch a game on television, I have to turn the commentators off. They say 'he's playing well' and I'm thinking 'no, he's not'. My advice to anyone is don't listen to the experts, Just watch the game and gather your own opinions."
"There was a debate about Wenger on Sky and how crazy is that? People are actually getting interviewed saying he shouldn't be doing this.
"What that man's done for English football is amazing and will be remembered in 25, 50, 100 years' time. 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. OK, there will be one or two who've done something in the game whose opinion you would take on board, but I'm on about every Tom, Dick and Harry."
"People are getting brain-washed so what you've got to do is not to get sucked into any of that nonsense and try and focus on your job, but it's hard because people take notice of what's been said."
God, the internet has a long memory. Hopefully Chiles says something ridiculous and Keane blows a gasket. We're looking forward.
