Roy Keane has described his embrace with Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson at the end of the 1999 treble-winning league season as "like hugging a hedgehog''.
On a famous night for Manchester United against great rivals Liverpool, Roy Keane was the star turn before and after the match on Sky Sports.
The Cork man, one of the all-time greats for the Red Devils, was warmly embraced by Cristiano Ronaldo, new signing Casemiro and even musician Stormzy at Old Trafford. He even had Jurgen Klopp in fits of laughter pre-match.
Read next: Roy Keane throws cheeky dig at Stormzy as he gatecrashes coverage of Manchester United win
After the game on Sky Sports, the Irish hero finally made an appearance on Gary Neville's Soccerbox series to talk through some of the highlights of his career.
Working under Fergsuon led to major success for Keane and United. They landed seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups and a Champions League, including all three in the Treble-winning 1998/99 season.
But when they fell out, the bitterness ran deep. The result was Keane leaving Old Trafford, having his contract terminated in November 2005.
When showed a clip of an embrace with Ferguson after United landed the 1999 league title on the final day after victory over Spurs, Neville suggested, "See, you were close. Look at you hugging him."
Keane hit back: "Like hugging a hedgehog... the emotion behind it I mean."
On his relationship with the legendary manager, when asked if the pair were tight, Keane replied: "No, not as close as you think. Even at the old Cliff (training ground), when lads used to come in and have a cup of tea with the manager, Eric Harrison, I never got involved with that. I don’t think I was as close to the manager as you might think I was.
"He obviously trusted me to be the captain, he must have thought I was good around the place, just get on with it."
Many players faced the wrath of Ferguson - and Keane - and the former captain opened up on one such incident where the pair even discussed him leaving Old Trafford as a result.
"I remember one of the worst ones. He asked me to go and do an appearance somewhere in Manchester, or present some trophy. I might have been out with the cruciate (injury). I remember I couldn’t find the place.
"He went mad at me on the Monday or the Tuesday. It was a club somewhere for some kids to get some trophies. He said ‘ you were supposed to...’. I went ‘I couldn’t find the place’.
"We discussed me leaving the club over it. I said, ‘yeah, no problem’. Nice chat that," added Keane with one of his trademark glares.
"The few times I had it with Ferguson, about my drinking. He’d pull me some place and go ‘you were out til three or four’. I’d always go, ‘yeah, I was’. I’d never ever kind of lie to him about stuff.
"He couldn’t understand that I would go for a few drinks maybe on a Sunday night. I would say to him, that’s my way of relaxing or switching off but I will turn up on Wednesday, put in a performance for you."
For all that, Keane enjoyed monumental success at the club and says he knew from day one that he would flourish at Old Trafford after arriving from Nottingham Forrest for £3.75million in 1993.
"The speed of things, the standard in training. It was everything, the demands, the expectation. United had won the league just before I got there. If I thought I was one of the better players at Forrest I soon realised I’m way down the pecking order at United.
"I had a lot to learn. I couldn’t have had a better person to learn of than Robbo there. If I can’t learn of Bryan Robson then there is something drastically wrong with me. I’ll be honest, I couldn’t believe my luck."
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