The idea of being a miserable protagonist has long existed in the world of TV and film, but Roy Keane may well be the first person to make a career out of it as a football pundit. Keane the player was no-nonsense, taking the same kind of attitude into his work, offering opinions on the likes of Premier League matches and international tournaments.
His sardonic approach to his role might well be best summed up by the sentence, “That’s just his job, though”, which he has uttered more than once whilst the pundits and presenters around him have been waxing lyrical about a player’s performance.
Roy Keane as a Pundit
It is not exactly outrageous to suggest that Roy Keane’s work in front of the camera didn’t get off to the best of starts. It was back in 2008 when he was asked to cover a game between Manchester United and Celtic, two of his former clubs, at Old Trafford. A week later, he was asked to cover another Celtic game, but was unenthused by the idea. He said, “Never again. I’d rather go to the dentist. You’re sitting there with people like Richard Keys and they’re trying to sell something that’s not there. Any time I watch a game on television, I have to turn the commentators off.”
That was probably not a sentiment that his future employer, Sky Sports, would have been all that pleased to hear. Nevertheless, Keane did return to media work, initially doing so for ITV’s coverage of the 2011 Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona, which the Red Devils lost 3-1. As proof of the sport of dynamite you could get by hiring Keane, ITV put him alongside Harry Redknapp and Gareth Southgate, a player who he had been sent off for stamping on in an FA Cup final in 1995. If you hire Keane, that is the sort of history you’re dealing with.
For the 2011-2012 season, Keane was made the Chief Football Analyst for ITV, appearing on almost every live match that the broadcast showed, working with Southgate as well as the main presenter, Adrian Chiles. That included him appearing on the coverage of Chelsea’s Champions League final win over Bayern Munich, as well as the majority of the channel’s FA Cup matches, which resulted in him discussing the final between Chelsea and Liverpool, in addition to England’s friendly and competitive matches. As a result, he was also part of ITV’s coverage of the 2012 European Championship.
Once again, he was pitted opposite a rival from his footballing days, this time in the form of Patrick Vieira. He covered the likes of the match between Ireland and Spain, as well as the game between the Czech Republic and Russia. Other pundits he worked alongside during the tournament included Roberto Martínez and Gordon Strachan. Even when he became the Assistant Manager of the Republic of Ireland, he continued to work for ITV for the organisation’s coverage of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League, working on their highlights show.
Keane didn’t work for ITV during international matches when he was working for the Republic of Ireland, but he did return to the channel once his role had finished, covering the 2018 World Cup and the 2020 Euros. Then, in 2021-2022, he became ITV’s chief analyst for the FA Cup, working with Ian Wright. In the September of 2019, Roy Keane began working for Sky Sports on the channel’s Super Sunday coverage of Premier League football, which is a role he has fulfilled ever since. He also appears on the likes of The Overlap with Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, Wright and Jill Scott.
Keane the Footballer
Born into a working-class family in a suburb of Cork in the Republic of Ireland on the tenth of August 1971, Roy Maurice Keane’s family was always into sport and football in particular. As a nine-year-old, Keane took up boxing and trained for a few years, winning all of his bouts as a novice. At the same time, he was also developing as a footballer at local club Rockmount, being voted Player of the Year in his first season. In spite of this, Keane wasn’t offered a trial at an English club, even though many of his teammates were. A supporter of Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur, he soon began admiring Manchester United’s Bryan Robson.
After being turned down for the Ireland schoolboys after a trial that took place in Dublin, the 14-year-old was believed to be ‘just too small’ to make it. He remained undeterred, even as he was turned down for trials by English clubs that he wrote to, taking on temporary jobs such as manual work whilst waiting for his breakthrough. In 1989, the semi-professional Irish club the Cobh Ramblers signed him, joining the inaugural Football Association of Ireland/Foras Áiseanna Saothair scheme in Dublin that resulted in him taking part in full-time training for the first time in his life.
His performances in an FAI Youth Cup match caught the attention of Brian Clough, who bought Keane from Ramblers for £47,000 in the summer of 1990. The long periods away from his family were something that Keane struggled to deal with at first, but he eventually settled and got his professional debut in the league at the start of the 1990-1991 season against Liverpool. In the months that followed, Keane began to play more regularly and soon caught the attention of other managers, including Blackburn Rovers’ boss Kenny Dalglish, who agreed a £4 million fee to sign him.
Keane & Manchester United
However, because the correct paperwork was not completed, Keane couldn’t move to Blackburn and Alex Ferguson stepped in, spending a British transfer record £3.75 million to sign the Irishman for Manchester United. The Red Devils had just won the club’s first league title since the 1960s, meaning that Keane wasn’t guaranteed of a starting place given the success of Paul Ince and Bryan Robson in the middle of the park. He did eventually get a run in the team thanks to an injury to Robson, scoring the winner in the Manchester derby when United came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2.
In the years that followed, Keane established himself as a first-choice midfielder for Manchester United, becoming the most experienced player in the middle when youngsters like Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Paul Scholes were brought through. In 1997, after the unexpected retirement of Eric Cantona, Keane became the Manchester United captain, in spite of the fact that a cruciate ligament injury ruled him out of most of the season. He did return in the following campaign, however, leading the Red Devils to a Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble.
He signed a new contract with United halfway through the 1999-2000 season, committing his future to the club until at least 2004. He helped the club win another Premier League title, but caused controversy in the November of 2000 when he was critical of sections of the Manchester United fanbase at Old Trafford, saying that a lack of atmosphere was due to them having ‘a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches’. He was given a long suspension after what appeared to be a premeditated attack on Alfie Haaland in the Manchester derby in 2001.
Life After the Red Devils
Having won countless trophies and being the club captain, Roy Keane left Manchester United in unexpected fashion on the 18th of November 2005. He had scored 51 goals in all competitions for the club. A month later, he joined Celtic and won a double of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup. He decided to retire on medical advice on the 12th of June 2006, just six months after signing for the Scottish club. Having also played for the Republic of Ireland on the international stage, Keane decided to try his hand at management, with Sunderland being his first club.
He won the Championship during his first season as manager of the Black Cats, but the club struggled in the top-flight and Keane left the club on the fourth of December 2008. He also managed Ipswich Town and was the Assistant Manager of the Republic of Ireland, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, but when he left his role at his first English club in the June of 2019, that proved to be his last stint in management.