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Soccer

"My job wasn't to score goals, it was to win league titles" - Roy Keane

Former Manchester United and Ireland captain Roy Keane says his priority was winning trophies rat...



Soccer

"My job wasn't to score goals, it was to win league titles" - Roy Keane

Former Manchester United and Ireland captain Roy Keane says his priority was winning trophies rather than individual accolades during his time at Old Trafford. 

The Cork man was named both PFA and Football Writers' player of the season in 2000 and collected seven Premier League medals, four FA Cups and won the European Cup in 12 glittering years at United.

"No, absolutely not, it wasn't my job," Keane said when asked on Monday Night Football whether he should have scored more goals during his career.

"My job was to make sure we didn't lose games and won league titles. I scored plenty early in my career, so I thought, 'I've done that bit of the game, I'll focus on sitting in front of the back four and dictating the game'.

"I scored plenty in training but in matches I left that to the strikers and people like Scholes, Giggs and Beckham, who were keen to get forward."

Keane's former teammate Gary Neville claimed that the 2000/01 season, where United collected a third successive title, was their most comfortable campaign under Alex Ferguson but the ex Ireland assistant boss disagrees:

"I didn't fall for that at all, throughout my career I never thought that anything was easy. We made it look easy at the end, but that was because we worked really hard.

"Even when you were 10 or 13 points clear and people say it felt like the league was won, I never felt that way, it wasn't in my make-up.

"I wish I was a bit relaxed when we were so far clear, but I felt I couldn't relax. I couldn't think that way, that was my mindset and I was never happy really."

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