Keano: Love-Hate Relationship?

It’s a dilemma most Manchester United fans have faced in recent years. As a player he was a fan favourite, always giving his 110% for the club, but since his controversial break-up with Manchester United in 2005, he has frequently hit the headlines for criticizing Manchester United.

His latest provocation for the fans was his verdict on Moreno’s tackle on Luke Shaw, which will see the latter out of the game for over 6 months. This is what Keano had to say about the challenge:

I thought it was a brilliant challenge. I love the physical side of the game. You can always tell by player reactions and none of the United lads at the time, and players are best judges because they are nearest the tackle, didn’t react over the top thinking it was a bad challenge, obviously at the end of it.

And when players are travelling that speed, defending like that, injuries are going to happen. I’m surprised there are not more like it. It was more of an accident at the end of with his trailing foot.

This has not been the first time that he has caused controversy with his comments about Manchester United, leaving some fans feeling betrayed and hurt by their former Captain.

We’ve compiled a list of events which has helped in creating this Love-Hate relationship between Manchester United fans and Roy Keane.

Fans love him because…

• He scored twice on his home debut against Sheffield United
• He captained Manchester United for four years (1997–2001)
• He guided Manchester United to winning the treble in 1999, scoring a massive goal against Juventus to help United make a comeback from 2 goals down in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final.[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/GTMH0AGT1qE” maxwidth=”728″]
• He’s scored the winner in the final of the Intercontinental Cup, with Manchester United becoming World Champions for the first time.
• He led United to nine major honours (7 Premier league titles, 1 Champions League and 1 Intercontinental Cup), making him the most successful captain in the club’s history.
• He had 480 appearances for the Red Devils. scoring a total of 51 goals
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• He admitted he still loves the club in his autobiography “We went to see them recently and I was going, ‘Come on! Fucking hell! Come on!’ I want them to do well.”
• His testimonial attracted a crowd of 69,591, the largest crowd ever for a testimonial match in England[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/NiiS9BAnegA” maxwidth=”728″]

Fans hate him because…

• He publicly criticized the performances of John O’Shea, Alan Smith, Richardson, Fletcher and Rio Ferdinand on MUTV after a 4–1 defeat against Middlesbrough.
• He claimed that the referee’s decision to send off Luis Nani in Manchester United’s Champions League elimination against Real Madrid in 2013 was the right decision.[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/-cWLq1-k4-Q” maxwidth=”728″]
• He labelled manager Sir Alex Ferguson as “Ruthless”
• He declared that he was never a Manchester United fan, not even when he was playing for the club.[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/x77S8-vniGQ” maxwidth=”728″]
• He described the tackle that left Man United’s Luke Shaw with a broken leg as a “brilliant challenge”.

Let us know what you think about Roy Keane below!