Roy Keane has scared fellow players, pundits and even journalists over the years and Mail Sport’s Ian Ladyman has revealed two of his own brilliant anecdotes about the Manchester United legend.
Speaking on the first episode of the brand new It’s All Kicking Off podcast, Ladyman spoke to Chris Sutton about a couple of encounters with the Irishman.
One was during the 52-year-old’s playing days and the other came when Keane released his tell-all autobiography just over a decade ago in 2012.
Here’s how the conversation went when Ladyman and Sutton discussed Keane and the varying effects his intimidating persona can have…
Ian Ladyman (L) and Chris Sutton talked Roy Keane on Mail Sport’s It’s All Kicking Off podcast
Keane terrified Ladyman without doing anything whatsoever to him at an airport
Ladyman: ‘I will say Roy Keane is one of the few people who scared me one day, simply by ignoring me!
‘I was in an airport and I think we must have been at the same game for TV and I saw him coming the other way. I wouldn’t suggest Roy remembers who I am from when he was playing at United and was covering them, but he might have known my face.
‘I just knew he was going to ignore me, and the hair stood up on the back of my neck because I didn’t know how he was going to do it, deliberately look the other way or give me one of those kind of stares. You’re a bit wary of criticising him aren’t you!?’
Sutton: ‘No, I’m not, he’s always been alright with me, when I played against him, they normally beat us, that’s probably why!
‘He came to Celtic for a couple of weeks when Gordon Strachan took over and I suppose the perception of him within the dressing room was of a really strong, fiery character, great player, great leader and that he was going to come in and be really vocal.
‘He absolutely wasn’t that. He came in, kept his head down, trained hard and was pretty quiet. I’m not saying that greatly surprised me, people have a problem with Roy Keane because he’s forthright with his opinions, which isn’t a bad thing.
‘You know, people have always spoken about Craig Bellamy in the past and he’s rubbed people up the wrong way but it’s only because Keane and Bellamy had really high standards and demanded that from other people, I don’t have a problem with that.’
Ladyman: ‘I think of all the players I’ve seen play in the 25 years covering the sport, Keane is probably the best I’ve seen.
Keane remains the best player Ladyman has seen in his time covering football
Mail Sport’s podcast It’s All Kicking Off has launched with a Premier League preview
Sutton: ‘On the off chance he’s listening to this!’
Ladyman: ‘Any journalist who was covering Roy Keane in that time has a Roy Keane story, which I’m going to tell because I can, I’m essentially in charge here!
‘When Keane’s second book was published about 10 years ago, we all went over to Dublin for the launch, he was going through that geography teacher phase with the beard and tweed jacket and all that.
‘He stood on the stage to promote the book and do a press conference and absolutely assassinated everyone he could think of, because he was there to promote the book. He assassinated Fergie, Mick McCarthy, Alf Inge Haaland, classic Keane form. And then it comes to do a little breakout session with the daily newspapers and we sat around a round table.
‘Two people had to sit either side of him and I was one of them. We’re talking about the book, stories, bits and pieces and I just look at him and say: “I was quite interested to see that you admitted in the book that the first single that you ever bought was Karma Chameleon by Culture Club.”
The United legend had a fearsome reputation and carried that with him after football too
Keane is seen here clashing with his own team-mate Peter Schmeichel (centre)
‘He just looked at me and said: “I was 11’, he didn’t take his eye off me. Then he said… “What was yours?” I thought “he’s got me now”, I said, “It was, Does Your Mother Know by Abba”.
‘He just said, “Why am I not f***ing surprised”. The whole table just fell about laughing! Because he had me there, I walked right into that trap, that withering look that he gives you, that you normally get at home when you’ve left your socks on the floor or forgotten to open the kitchen door and the dog’s peed on the lino or something like that!’
That withering look has been part of Keane’s weaponry from the pitch to the dugout and now television studio.
The widely respected pundit has become must-see TV but no doubt a few of his colleagues will be feeling the same heat as Mail Sport’s esteemed journalist did over the course of the season ahead.
It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show on Thursday and every week this season.
It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify