‘Martin always comes alive on match day’

Having played under the new manager and played alongside his assistant, the former Manchester United and Ireland defender Brian Carey needs no convincing of the merits of the Martin O’Neill-Roy Keane ticket.

Back in December of 1995, Carey was a member of a Leicester City side going nowhere in the second tier, when O’Neill — on the back of his success as a fledgling manager with Wycombe Wanderers — was brought in to try to turn around the club’s fortunes. Which, after a tricky start, he did, eventually getting them promoted to the Premiership via the play-offs.

“It really was a remarkable job in the end,” says Carey. “I remember that on his first day, one of the journalists asked him what kind of football he was going to play. And he said, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes, this is a results business.’ People talk about him having a direct style of play but the bottom line is he has a 52% win record in management, which is fantastic.”