Roy Keane has been fulsome in his praise of Gareth Southgate on ITV Sport as England took on Denmark.
Southgate and Keane came up against each other as players for Crystal Palace and Manchester United, as well as in management for Sunderland and Middlesbrough.
The Wear-Tees rivalry did nothing but improve their relationship, according to Keane.
Roy Keane on England manager
"Brilliant, a really top man. I think we actually beat him with Sunderland at Middlesbrough and he was great after the game. A classy guy and top man, considering we a had a difficult start.."
That difficult start came as Southgate, then of Crystal Palace, and Keane of Manchester United came up against each other at Selhurst Park.
Keane was sent off for stamping on Southgate, but things were never kept nasty between the pair.
"He's just a quality guy, you can't begrudge Gareth any success. The way he has done it, working with the under-21s, nearly 100 international matches at both levels.
"I've got loads of time for Gareth, as a player we had battles, but managing and then working with him, having some good chats and some late nights, he's a brilliant guy."
Southgate
Keane's former coach at Manchester United, Steve McClaren, explained to Off The Ball why Southgate was his first signing at 'Boro and why the same qualities are aiding England.
"He was my first signing at Middlesbrough, and I bought him because I wanted a leader that epitomised what I wanted on and off the field. He epitomised that," McClaren told Off The Ball.
"He was a winner, he did everything right, he was so professional - the first in and the last one away. But the key thing was that he brought people together.
"There were no cliques. He used to have meals on different tables. If there were cliques, he would be there on different tables every meal time making sure that everybody was together. He was the glue that gelled them and brought that together.
"You see that with England, England look like a club team now. Not an international team where in our day Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea players came together - there were a lot of rivalry.
"It is a different era. It is a different era with the players because they don't feel like that, but also his personality and demeanour. He is level, his temperament follow that."
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