In Focus/Roy Keane: Kevin McCarra talks to former Manchester United greats about how the captain is adapting to his more measured role in midfield
Popularity is the one surprise that Anfield will not have in store for Roy Keane tomorrow. Unwavering hostility from the Liverpool supporters can be relied on during an otherwise unpredictable match, but the Manchester United captain is refashioning his reputation. A man previously regarded as a terrorist of the football field has begun to look statesmanlike.
"I nearly fainted at the Arsenal match when he got a hold of Patrick Vieira to keep him out of trouble," said Pat Crerand, the great United midfield player of the 1960s.
It must have been a revelation for Keane to appreciate that his fists could be used for peacekeeping. Opponents have often regarded him as a devil and he has had demons of his own to tame.
The former United head of security, Ned Kelly, in his recently serialised memoirs, spoke of the effect alcohol could have on the player and recalls being alerted that Keane was running around the street with a knife and a stick after an argument with a neighbour in 1997. That same year, Keane, suffering from sleep deprivation and emotional havoc after a drunken brawl in midweek, tore his cruciate ligament as he tried to foul Alf Inge Haaland.
It is injuries which have begun to direct Keane's career. That one made him determined to prize his fitness in future and, in August last year, there was further harsh enlightenment when a red card at Sunderland was the cue for him to undergo a long-postponed hip operation. The scalpel was in the hands of Richard Villar, but further reconstruction work had to be carried out by Keane himself.
"In my life, I am trying to get things level," he had said just before walking out of the 2002 World Cup finals.
After the surgery, it became a necessity to re-evaluate himself as a footballer since he could no longer trust in reckless energy or aggression. The introspection led him to talk about the end of his career as if it were imminent, and a return to action which coincided with defeats at Blackburn and Middlesbrough recruited observers to his pessimism.
It has been surprising, therefore, that Alex Ferguson, by restricting his appearances, has encouraged the emergence of a Keane whose influence is more judicious yet as extensive as ever. While still a youngster at Cobh Ramblers, he modelled himself on the United captain of that time.
"Bryan Robson wasn't brilliant," Keane has written, "but he was awesome."
He might have been describing the sort of overpowering effect he himself had at, say, Newcastle in August. His former hero is repaying Keane's compliments.
"As soon as players have an operation, people get carried away and talk about all the things they won't be able to do any more," said Robson, "but the likes of Alan Shearer and Roy will prove them wrong again and again. He used to be able to do everything anyway. He could sit and hold or get forward and score goals. So it's not a problem to someone of Roy's talent when Sir Alex asks him nowadays to stay closer to the back four. He's got the football brain to adapt to different roles.
"It's not just about getting your tackles in and getting up and down the pitch. He can pass, he's got a good touch on the ball and he's strong in the air."
Robson's life at United had a similar pattern as Keane's, with injuries teaching him that vitality is a precious substance to be dispensed with care. "Sir Alex just wanted me to hold back and let the young lads like Lee Sharpe, Ryan Giggs and Andrei Kanchleskis do the running," he said. "The idea was to use their legs and save yours."
Though Keane is far from sedentary, he is more discriminating in his rushes down field and his existence has been pared down in other regards as well.
"It must be great for him that there are no Ireland games to worry about and a bit less travelling to do," said Crerand, who works for United's TV channel. "Now that he's fit and focused only on the club, it's a big bonus for United. Roy's got his old zest back."
Before Tuesday's win over Rangers in the Champions League, Ferguson commented that Keane could no longer shuttle constantly between penalty areas, but the observation was made without regret, and once the Scottish champions had been beaten 3-0 he picked Keane out as the best player of his 17 years at Old Trafford. Crerand considers that the captain, 32, will be capable of bearing out the truth of that accolade for some time to come.
"You don't have to be a box-to-box player as you get older," he said. "You pass it better and you realise you don't have to make that 40-yard run because the ball will do it for you."
Keane is now on the same sort of regime that was once set out for Robson in his closing phase at Old Trafford. Robson said: "When you get older you just need to keep your body ticking over. The games will keep you fit once you get into the season. The manager had a modified training routine for me and it will be the same with Roy."
With three goals scored and only one booking collected, the balance in Keane's displays has been ideal this season. Robson's assertion that the midfielder is now "at his peak" might sound fanciful, but it would not be contested by Rangers or, for example, by the Newcastle team beaten by the two goals that he devised.
The tests of his tinderbox temperament will go on, however, and, at Anfield especially, Keane will have to confirm that the present maturity is more than just a passing phase.
Guardian Service
