Roy Keane and Ian Wright were on punditry duty at Anfield for Wednesday night's FA Cup action. The pair disagreed on one iconic tradition at Liverpool's stadium.
Keane insisted he had never touched the "This is Anfield" sign as an opposition player - and called Wright's decision to do so "very childish" in an hilarious opening exchange on ITV.
Roy Keane doesn't understand Ian Wright's love for 'This is Anfield' sign
Roy Keane and Ian Wright were ITV's punditry team for Liverpool v Norwich in Wednesday's headline FA Cup game.
Mark Pougatch opened the show by recounting his excitement to touch the iconic "This is Anfield" sign in the tunnel. He asked Wright whether he had ever touched the sign as a visiting opposition player, and the Arsenal legend gave a resounding yes in response.
Of course. But I didn't touch it when I was going out with the guys. When you went out for the warmup, you'd look around and you touched it. It is iconic, it's an unbelievable pitch. I had to touch it!
I didn't want them [his teammates] to see, because I didn't want them to feel it was disrespectful. It wasn't disrespectful, I just wanted to touch that sign.
Roy Keane, on the other hand, was less than impressed with Wright's enthusiasm for the tradition.
Did you touch the This Is Anfield sign when playing at Liverpool?@IanWright0: “I had to touch it… it’s iconic, it’s unbelievable.”
Roy Keane: “Of course not. No point… I’m not sure why you touched it, Wrighty. It’s childish… what benefit did you get out of it?”
Classic 🤣 pic.twitter.com/9mEGaz4CPJ— ITV Football (@itvfootball) March 2, 2022
The Irishman confirmed that he had never touched the sign, and could not understand the appeal of doing so as an opposition player.
He went on to ask Wright why he had touched the sign, and his disdain for the sign was evident:
Keane: No, of course [he didn't touch the sign]. There's no point. Okay, it's a tradition for English players, but not for opposition players. I'm not sure why you touched it, Wrighty.
Wright: Because I liked the whole thing that comes with Liverpool.
Keane: It's very childish.
Wright: It's not childish.
Keane: It is childish!
Wright: It's an unbelievable thing to be able to do!
Keane: And what benefit did you get out of touching it?
Wright: I touched it! I'm one of the people that have touched it. There's a lot of fans who haven't touched that.
Keane: Okay, let's leave it there.
As a former Manchester United captain - and a passionate one at that - Roy Keane's opposition to an icon of Liverpool football club is understandable.
Nonetheless, his opposition to Wright's love-in for the sign certainly made for an entertaining opening to ITV's FA Cup coverage on Wednesday night.
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