Roy Keane helped Sir Alex Ferguson implement an “unspoken rule” in training in order to ensure Manchester United’s players didn’t drop their standards.
United of course dominated English football under the management of Ferguson, with their best years arguably coming with Keane as their captain. With the pair working together, United won seven league titles, four FA Cups and the 1999 Champions League as part of a historic treble.
Keane is of course famous for his no-nonsense approach, which would ultimately lead to his departure from Old Trafford following a falling-out with Ferguson. Before that though, the former Republic of Ireland international worked as Ferguson’s right-hand man on the training ground.
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Former United midfielder Quinton Fortune has revealed how Keane governed United’s training sessions, and led by example to make sure others didn’t drop their levels. That would mean players having to get to training two hours before it even started.
Speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes at the launch of their 5-A-Side Bet on Brighton v Man United, Fortune said: "He [Keane] set the standards every single day in training. He had so much influence in the team, and if you dropped your standards, you would hear from him. He wasn't just keeping an eye on whose standards were dropping, though, he was setting them himself.
"He could talk the talk and walk the walk; he was just relentless every day. I wish people could see how much this guy trained; he was unbelievable."
Explaining Keane’s influence, Fortune added: "It was just an unspoken rule; you just picked it up from day one. You needed to be on your toes every day in training, because if you weren't someone else would take your place. It was as simple as that.
"If training started at 10:15am, you'd be thinking 'OK, I need to be in at 9, maybe even 8am'. You'd get in early, have your breakfast, do your stretches, be out on the pitch at 10am, ready for training.
"You saw Gary and Phil Neville doing it, Cristiano [Ronaldo], Roy Keane, all these guys were doing it, so new players would just pick it up naturally. We would treat every training session like it was our last, and that became a habit for everyone at the club. You came in and just thought 'is this normal?' but match day would come around and it would be easy."
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