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"He tore a strip off me" - Former Manchester United striker shares vintage Roy Keane story

Roy Keane is synonymous with high standards and demanding only the very best from teams that he h...



"He tore a strip off me...
Soccer

"He tore a strip off me" - Former Manchester United striker shares vintage Roy Keane story

Roy Keane is synonymous with high standards and demanding only the very best from teams that he has played for and managed.

Danny Higginbotham shares a story in his autobiography about a bizarre half-time team talk where he claims Keane told them enjoy the second half in a most unorthodox fashion.

"Listen lads," he said. "Basically, you’re shit. Try and enjoy the game. You’re probably going to get beat. But just enjoy being shit."

And while he employed different tactics to try get the most out of his players, intimidation was often one that was brought in to help him teach younger players.

Former United striker Daniel Webber shared a story about the time during a pre-season game when Keane gave him his patented Roy Keane 'Death Stare'.

"As a young lad coming into the first team you kind of hope that people will welcome you softly," he said on BBC 5ive Live.

"Roy to be fair to him treated everyone the same and he was always fair. I've got a lot of time for him, a lot of respect for him. But when he came in and trained with the first team it was very much that if you misplaced a pass you would get the death stare.

"He demanded standards but he was the same across the board. We had a pre-season game against Shrewsbury and I remember I had run through clean on goal.

"We were about five up or something like that, so I'm through on goal and I look to my left. Do I square it to Roy Keane or do I not? I chose no. I'm a striker, I'm going to shoot. I hit the side netting.

"He gave me a stare and I thought 'I don't want to go in the same dressing room as him. We went in afterwards and he tore a strip off me."

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