Pawns on Roy’s chess board

Keano’s superpower might have been football, but he discovered another along the way in his magnetism. And how a nation hangs on every word he utters, or is uttered about him, writes Larry Ryan.

I did newspaper columns for a while – for the Sun. Again, I was being told, ‘It’s easy money.’ I gave it a go, but I ran out of steam. And I hated it. Every Friday or Saturday, I’d be down the phone to a journalist, giving my verdict on everything. There has to come a point when you honestly say, ‘I’ve no opinion on that.’ But that’s not what makes newspaper columns. I said that once in an interview. I was asked about something to do with Manchester United, and I said, ‘I’ve no opinion on that.’ I think the headline was: ‘Shock: Keane Has No Opinion on Something.’

It may be the central pillar of Roy Keane’s appeal; that he absolutely knows the score.