In the latest installment of his Partridge-esque blog, former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys has torn into Alex Ferguson for what he says is the Scot's lack of loyalty. Said Keys:
Turns out Roy Keane was right after all. Fergie knows nothing about loyalty.
Keys took issue with how Ferguson's book ended his policy of "what goes on at the club stays at the club". He also called out the Scot for his treatment of Keys' apparent friend David Moyes. After mentioning how Roy Keane isn't the only player who should feel betrayed by the book, he continued:
I've said before I thought he (Ferguson) was bang out of order. The timing of the release of his book did nothing to help David Moyes. Nor did the tacky theatre tour that followed. Nor did constantly hanging around the tunnel on matchdays.
Ouch. He qualifies his comments by saying how he thinks Ferguson remains the greatest manager in the game, before listing off his likely contenders for that title, just so one is left in no doubt that Keys is a real football man.
Even stranger than Keys' unsolicited castigation of Ferguson is his apparent friendship with David Moyes. How long has that been public knowledge? One can imagine Moyesie curling into a ball of embarrassment in whichever sun-drenched location he's at today, knowing that his strongest character reference to date has come from a man whose lasting contribution to 21st century life has been his ghastly misappropriation of the weasely 'banter'. Keys is a veritable Bant Ki-Moon, a Bant-onio Bant-eras, a Bantti Niemi. He goes on to elaborate on his alleged chum-dom with Moyes, suggesting that he was an unofficial adviser during those bleak days at Old Trafford. He said:
It's to be hoped the same as me. I too was full of advice for David during his time at Old Trafford. I thought sacking Mike Phelan was a mistake but having spoken to David it turns out there was a very good reason to do it. I'm certainly not going to share that information here. Rene Meulenstein's (sic) subsequent resignation was an unexpected blow.
How David must wish he'd had both the backing and the money to change things at United as Van Gaal has done. Whatever Fergie says, and recently he accepted the decline needed addressing, United were getting left behind both domestically and in Europe.
To be fair, Keys' comments are reasonable, if unexpected - the fact that he has weighed in as an apparent personal friend of David Moyes is the most surprising aspect. He wraps up by saying how he feels Moyes is a real man of substance who should have been given more time at Old Trafford, before getting in a final dig at Fergie as his parting shot. You can read the full entry here.
