‘I could have gone easier on Scholes and Giggsy. They weren’t bad…’

He wasn’t slow to tell them what was what when Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were in their pomp and boasted a midfield four of Beckham, Scholes, Keane and Giggs.

Perhaps the years have mellowed the former skipper. Now Keane’s mature reflections on those colleagues are more generous, acknowledging them as the global greats they were.