Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane was full of praise for his former manager Alex Ferguson last night.
Keane was speaking in his role as a pundit on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports in the wake of United's 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford, and addressed the famous rift that has left the pair not on speaking terms since his departure from Old Trafford in 2005.
The former Nottingham Forest star made 326 appearances for United over a twelve-year period, and outlined his disdain for Ferguson at a recent Off the Ball Roadshow.
Keane said last night though he simply believed in a certain kind of manager-player relationship.
"When I first went to United we trained at the Cliff and some of the senior players would go upstairs and have a cup of tea with Alex Ferguson and some of the other coaching staff.
"Robbo [Bryan Robson], Brucey [Steve Bruce], Pally [Gary Pallister], they'd be up there having a chit-chat. I never wanted that relationship with any manager I worked under. I never wanted to have a cup of tea and a bit of chit-chat.
"I think our relationship, if I really wanted to analyse it, is we both loved and wanted to do what was best for Man United, there was huge respect between us. Unfortunately, that was probably lost at the end, but ultimately I look back at my time with Alex Ferguson and he was a brilliant manager. [He was] very, very good to me, there's no getting away from that.
"It doesn't take away from my career with United [how it ended] 12-and-a-half years, it was fantastic. As you said, these things happened towards the end. I never felt like I was in with Alex Ferguson or I was pals with him because I was the captain. This idea of having a cup of tea upstairs.....not for me."
"I think we both really loved and wanted to do what was best for Manchester United." ❤
"Senior players ultimately run the dressing room." 💪
Roy Keane lifts the lid on his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson and the Manchester United dressing room. 🔴 pic.twitter.com/a93a85L6bH— Sky Sports Retro (@SkySportsRetro) September 30, 2019
When asked if he shared similar personalities with his former club boss, Keane said: "I think we both love winning, wanted the best for Man United. I know he was critical towards the end, saying I was running the dressing room. I was! Senior players run the dressing room because as you know at club level, managers are very rarely in the dressing room."
"They both knew how to say the right thing at the right time. Just what the team needed, just what a player needed. I'd be sitting there, as I was getting older, analysing it. They would always get it spot on, you'd be thinking, 'that was brilliant.'
The Corkman also gave his views on Ferguson's infamous 'hairdryer' treatment, and attested that he had never been on the receiving end of such a dressing down.
"I never really had the hairdryer treatment for a performance, he might give me it for an off-the-field incident.
"There was one time, it might have been Aston Villa at home, I'd been really poor. He just looked at me, the disappointment on his face, I remember it was like a dagger in my heart, I'm letting this man down, letting my club down.
"Those two managers in particular [Clough and Ferguson], brilliant."
Scott McTominay had given United the lead last night on the stroke of half-time with a strike from just outside the box, before VAR ruled Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's equaliser had not been offside.
The result leaves Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United sitting in 10th in the Premier League table after seven games, with Unai Emery's Arsenal now up to fourth.
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