There have been few captains in football that commanded the same level of respect than Roy Keane carried at Old Trafford, during his years at the club. Some Manchester United supporters will say his leadership qualities in midfield have never been replaced and Fergie recently said that Roy has to go down as one of his most significant signings during his time at the club.
While other clubs give the captain’s arm-band around like confetti; Roy Keane still believes that it is an important role and a good captain can bring a lot to the team:
“I think it is an important role. We have seen headlines over the last few months particularly about the England set-up. What I always enjoyed with the captains I played under, that would be Stuart Pearce when I was at Forest or Andy Townsend at Ireland or Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona and Brian Robson, they were great captains in a sense that they did not make an issue out of it. They were not on an ego trip. They would take it on board of course when you are at the bigger clubs. You have got to win trophies and you have to be an example when you train, the way you play, your commitment to the team and there are off the field activities particularly when you are at a big club.”
Roy goes on to talk about his duties as United captain and the influence that Stuart Pearce had during his early days at Nottingham Forest:
“At United it would have been the media commitments sorting out tickets, it might sound like trivia but sorting out tickets for family, Christmas parties. There are big commitments for the captain at Manchester United I have to say, but as long as you don’t take your eye off the ball in terms of what you are about and that is a player, being a good leader on the training pitch and obviously when you are travelling helping foreign players and their families. I was comfortable with doing that. But of course it was no good doing all of that and not turning up on a Saturday and saying ‘I have had a busy week looking after the crèche.’ You still have to play well and the players have got to see that as well, not getting side tracked by anything and thinking it is more than it is. You are still there to be a player and to be a top player and I found that as I said about Stuart Pearce. When I came over from Ireland he was the captain of England. He was the best player every day in training. There was no nonsense. He was not obsessed with the media, the money, cars. It was all about what he stood for in the dressing room. He took no nonsense, people think a captain has got to be mates with people, you don’t. You just have to have the respect of your team mates and you earn that on the training ground. However supporters only see you once a week on a match day. However, when you work with people every day of the week, that is when you get the respect.”
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