Roy Keane Tags Ferguson ‘Controlling and Egotistic’ in New Interview
Former Manchester United midfieder, Roy Keane believes Sir Alex Ferguson is still trying to exert “control and power” at Manchester United despite retiring as manager in the summer.
The Irishman, who was Ferguson’s midfield driving force for the club between 1993 and 2005, says the Scot has a “massive ego” and rated his former boss at Nottingham Forest, Brian Clough, as the best manager he had worked with.
Keane who left United in 2005 after a fall-out with Ferguson, was speaking in an ITV4 documentary and said of Ferguson who’s now a director at United: “Everything is about control and power. He’s still striving for it now even though he’s not manager. There’s massive ego involved in that.”
He said that his relationship with the former United boss is now “non existent” and addressed Ferguson’s praise of him in his recently released autobiography for “covering every blade of grass” in the 1999 Champions League semi-final second leg against Juventus,saying: “Stuff like that almost insults me. I get offended when people give quotes like that about me. It’s like praising the postman for delivering letters.”
Keane admitted he had cried in his car when his United career came to an abrupt end over a candid interview he gave to the club’s in-house television station criticising his team-mates. He said: “Of course I was upset: I did shed a few tears in my car for about two minutes. But I also told myself I had to get on with my life. I walked out with nothing, I had no club lined up and I was injured.
“I told David Gill I had been injured playing for Man United. I could have played for Manchester United easily for another couple of years.”
Keane finished by saying he believed Ferguson’s strongest trait was his “ruthlessness”, while labelling “loyalty” his biggest weakness.
