Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer admits his former adversary Roy Keane is 'box office' as a pundit. The pair famously clashed on the pitch, with the Magpies' No 9 goading in a confrontation which led to the Manchester United captain being shown a red card at St James' Park in September 2001.
Shearer later described how Keane was 'waiting' to settle the score after the full-time whistle of Newcastle's 4-3 win, but the second round of the row did not develop beyond a few 'choice words' being exchanged. More than two decades on, the personal rivalry remains between the pair, with Keane admitting last year that their 'beef' made working together impossible.
Shearer was handed the dubious task of ranking many of his colleagues along with Micah Richards on the latest series of the BBC's Match of the Day Top 10 series. The duo were asked to assess their favourites in a list which included the likes of Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville from Sky Sports, alongside former pundits such as Alan Hansen and the late Jimmy Hill.
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Newcastle's all-time record goalscorer opened the episode by describing how the role of the pundit has changed since he begun working as a broadcaster. He told the podcast: "I was always told when you first started that you have to tell the viewer something they can't see.
"I started in 2006, and from then to now, the role of being a pundit has changed in every way. Social media has changed the role of a pundit, 100%. All of the companies now, whoever it is, a lot of them just want clicks.
"They've got so much creativity online, and it's a huge part of their business now. You might deliver the best piece of analysis, and someone sat next to you will hammer someone and criticise someone. That will be looked at as being more important, more relevant, than the brilliant piece of analysis where you're telling the public something they can't see."
This discussion inevitably led to Keane, with the former Republic of Ireland international famous for not holding back with his views when working as a pundit. Shearer gave his own view on his former rival's broadcast style, admitting he is 'box office' as a result.
Shearer explained: "Talking about Roy here because I think Roy does that more than anyone. He doesn't really do analysis, but because of his career and who he is and how great he was, he's probably entitled to do that more than someone who didn't have the career of himself.
When presenter Gary Lineker interjected that Keane is 'box office', Shearer added: "No, absolutely, but I go back to that point that Roy doesn't really do a lot of analysis. But what he does is because of his personality and the way he is, he's box office because he's not afraid to hammer someone or be really critical."
The Magpies legend would go on to name BBC Sport colleague Ian Wright as his top pundit, with Richards opting for Jamie Carragher. Shearer selected Keane as ninth on his list, ahead of only Richards, and explained his tongue-in-cheek reasoning.
Shearer said: "I just know that it's going to be such a talking point that I've got him at nine. If I'd put him at one, it would have been no fun!"
