In 2008 when Roy Keane was Sunderland manager, the now famous pundit had a typically comical rant about pundits insisting that he would never become one!
In the managers pre-match press conference before Sunderland took on Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light, the manager was asked whether he would ever do any punditry by one of the gathered media. In his response, Keane admitted that he was asked on a couple of occasions to do the Manchester United and Glasgow Celtic games but would rather ‘go to the dentist’
then ever do punditry.
“I was asked to do the Celtic game,” said Keane. “And a couple of weeks before that, I was asked to do the United game against Celtic at Old Trafford.
“I’ve done it once for Sky, but I’ll never be doing it again.
I’d rather go to the dentist.
You’re sitting there with people in the studio and they’re trying to sell something that’s not there.
“After the Newcastle game, we had them saying we’ve never seen anything like it, dressing things up that weren’t really there, just because he was in a bad mood. It happens.
“If you’re going to watch a game of football, just go and watch it. Any time I watch a game on television I have to turn the commentators off.
In a typical long lasting rant by the Irishman, Keane suggested that along with the pundits’ reaction to Sunderland’s 2-1 win over Newcastle, he felt the abuse that Arsene Wenger received after Arsenal lost to Stoke City by some parts of the media namely Tony Gale and Jeff Winter was utterly unwarranted given the success the Frenchman has had in the game.
Sensationally, Keane questioned whether these individuals – amongst others – have the validity to criticise someone with the success like Wenger has had and comically added that he wouldn’t trust these people to walk his dog!
“Will Arsene Wenger be remembered in 25, 50 or 100 years time? You bet your life he will. Will the people on the television talking about him be remembered for what they’ve achieved. No chance whatsoever.”
The quotes from Keane show how stressful the environment of being a top flight manager can be when everyone has an opinion no matter what their standing in the game is.
In addition, Keane’s complete reversal is equally typical Keane where one would ponder does he say things for reactions more than any other reason. Seventeen years on, Keane is a successful pundit with Sky where he regularly does Super Sunday along with the Overlap podcast with Gary Neville, which has become extremely successful.
