I was disappointed for Roy Keane when he was dismissed as Ipswich Town manager last week, and I know Roy will be, too.
He moved his family the 180 miles or so from Cheshire in England's Northwest to Ipswich and he gave the job his all. He wanted to succeed. But he didn't and that will hurt him. Ipswich spent a lot of money and despite Roy leading his side to the semi-final of the Carling Cup, they still struggled in the Championship, one tier below the Premier League.
Roy was my captain for many years at Manchester United. He was a great, great player, a driven and passionate man who gives 100 per cent in whatever he does. He never, ever, shirked responsibility, protected his teammates and could be his own biggest critic. Many a time I saw Roy stand up in dressing room and criticise himself before he had a go at anyone else. He'd say: "I'm not doing it boys, but we all need to improve."
Of course he was doing it because he was brilliant; that is why he was captain of Manchester United. Winning was everything. He was a hard man and ultra-competitive.
He always ended up taking Quinton Fortune, the South African midfielder, out with ferocious tackles. The gaffer [Sir Alex Ferguson] saw one on a pre-season training camp and came over, telling Roy to calm down. Roy told him to keep his oar out. The manager abandoned training. The lads couldn't believe what they were seeing.
I had a good relationship with Roy, but not every player did. We didn't have a cross word. He knew my character and I knew his. I called him Schiz, short for schizophrenic, and got away with it, so he must have liked me.
Roy took those values into management and I know because he took me to Sunderland, his first management job. He expected everything from his players and set standards similar to his own as a player. The problem was that none of the players were anything like as good as Roy had been.
He was a hard manager, too. But management is different to playing. You have to change.
Every player has a different personality and reacts differently to praise and criticism. Managers should take that into account. There also has to be a balance. Players have a lot of power these days. A good manager must make good players want to play well for him.
Roy ruled with a rod of iron and the players were petrified of him at Sunderland. They didn't dare answer back. I told Roy one day and he stared at me and asked: "Why are they scared of me?" You only had to see how he looked when he questioned me to see why they were scared of him.
Roy got Sunderland promoted to the Premier League. That made him a good manager and he showed an excellent knowledge of football, plus good coaching skills. He had passed all of his coaching badges and done really well in them, so it was interesting to see his management style.
Roy could be very tough, probably too tough. If a player was late for a bus then he was banished to the reserve team for weeks. I was late for one training session. I was coming up from Manchester every morning, over a two-hour drive. I used to allow plenty of time and would leave my home at 5.30am. There was a big crash on the motorway one day and I was late. There was nothing that I could do about it.
I received a letter in the post a few days where I was informed that I'd been fined a full week's wages. It was signed by Roy. I thought that was too harsh, the rules too rigid.
I left for Burnley on loan soon after. Roy's assistant told me to go and see the manager and he explained that Burnley had come in for me. I already knew that so it was a slightly surreal conversation because he knew that I knew it, too. He explained that it would be good as Burnley is a lot closer to Manchester than Sunderland. We shook hands and I left on good terms. And it can't have been easy for Roy dealing with someone who was once a teammate.
Roy called a few months later to say he wasn't renewing my contract. That was fine. My career was coming to an end and I understood his reasons. We've not spoken since, but there's no ill feeling whatsoever.
I think Roy will get another job in football. It's his life. People are slating him and writing him off, but if he makes a few tweaks to his style, I think he could make it to the top.
sports@thenational.ae
