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'Roy Keane Had The Biggest Influence On Me As A Person'

'Roy Keane Had The Biggest Influence On Me As A Person'
Sean Meehan
By Sean Meehan
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Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that Roy Keane has been making headlines over the past number of days.

The former Manchester United skipper's no-nonsense punditry has drawn the ire of several people, including former teammate Tony Cascarino. What is forever undoubted about Keane, regardless of his managerial faux-pas and armchair animosity, is that he was a brilliant footballer.

So much so, that former teammate Phil Neville singled out the Corkman as being the 'the biggest influence' on him as a person, more so than any other teammate he encountered during his 19-year professional career.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the current England Women's national team manager lauded Keane as a standard bearer. Neville spoke on Keane consistently demanding the same amount of effort from players on a daily basis.

"Every single day, he never allowed any player to get away with any form of indiscipline or drop in standards.

"From the minute you walked into the training ground - even the way you parked your car, the way that you dressed, the way that you spoke to people - he would not let you get away with absolutely anything."

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Neville, who left Manchester United in 2004 to join Everton, said that it was Keane who he tried to emulate when he assumed the captaincy at the Toffees.

"When I went to Everton, when I was captain, every time I thought of certain situations, I used to think of Roy Keane and his influence, about the standards and about not going down to other people's standards, trying to get other people to get up to yours.

"He was a phenomenal captain and one that - if you speak to any player from that time - yes, he was hard, yes, he was sometimes brutal, but ultimately, he just wanted to win games of football."

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Neville joined Robbie Savage, where the former Wales international retold a tale from Keane's second autobiography. Keane, who was manager at Sunderland at the time, wanted to sign Savage. However, when ringing the midfielder, the call went to voicemail. Savage's voicemail greeting of "WAZZUP?" immediately turned Keane off the prospect of Savage's signature.

Both Neville and Savage remarked on Keane's punditry, as well as his demeanour outside of football. Although Neville said that Keane's on-screen persona is "box office", it's an entirely different story away from football.

"He's brilliant company. You know, he's funny, he's witty, he's got a dry sense of humour.

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"He's warm, he's got a warm side to him that people don't see."

SEE ALSO: Damien Delaney Never Read Strange Hospital Gift From Roy Keane

 

 

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