Roy Keane names his best Man Utd team-mates XI – and leaves out Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Ferdinand and Gary Neville
ROY KEANE has never gone out of his way to be Mr Popular.
And he lived up to his reputation by snubbing Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville from his best XI of Manchester United team-mates.
The Irishman, 48, spent 12 years as a player at Old Trafford, joining from Nottingham Forest in 1993.
He won seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League in a stellar spell with the club before leaving by mutual consent in November 2005 after an explosive interview with in-house channel MUTV.
And Keane named his favoured line up from players he took to the field with during his time at United...
GK: Peter Schmeichel
The Great Dane spent eight years at Old Trafford between 1991 and 1999 and is widely considered to be the Premier League's greatest goalkeeper.
Together, they won eight major titles together including the treble in 1999 before taking six years to properly replace Schmeichel with Edwin van der Sar.
Keane says... "Schmeichel, by far the best goalkeeper. Believe it or not we actually didn’t get on that well."
RB: Paul Parker
Keane spent most of his time at United with Neville at right-back but the Sky Sports pundit misses out on this team.
That is because Parker gets the nod - he may have suffered some injuries and eventually forced out by Neville but was a fine talent in Keane's early years in Manchester.
Keane says... "I played with Parks in his prime. A top, top defender. Gary would be a little bit unlucky."
CB: Jaap Stam
Sir Alex Ferguson shelled out £10.8million to sign Stam from Feyenoord in 1998 and he proved a quality purchase.
His dominant style and no-nonsense defending made him a nightmare for opposition strikers, who rarely got a sniff when the Dutchman was around.
Keane says... "Jaap was a quality centre-half. A very tough guy."
CB: Gary Pallister
Pallister's place in the side means two other fine centre-backs miss out: Steve Bruce and £30m man Rio Ferdinand.
The ex-Middlesbrough defender enjoyed nine years at Old Trafford between 1989 and 1998, helping lay the foundations for a golden period for the club.
Keane says... "I’d pick Pallister for his size... even after two minutes of a game he looked like he’d been playing for an hour!"
LB: Denis Irwin
Keane is always full of praise for Irwin whenever he talks about his Irish compatriot.
In 12 years with Manchester United, he racked up 33 goals in 529 appearances from left-back and 11 major honours.
Keane says... "He was good at set—pieces, could defend, used to train properly and he’s an Irishman."
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RM: David Beckham
The only member of the Class of '92 to get into the side is Beckham.
Like Keane, Becks' time at United came to an abrupt and somewhat-acrimonious end but there is no doubting his ability on the right hand side, especially with a dead ball.
Keane says... "I found it very hard to leave Becks out because of his work rate, the amount of goals he gets, the assists and his set piece delivery."
CM: Roy Keane
Who better to have marshalling the midfield in his team of favourites than Keane himself?
The former Red Devils skipper appeared 480 times in a United shirt, often proving the driving force and adding the steel in the middle of the park with his performance in the Champions League semi-final against Juventus one to remember.
Speaking about Keane, Ferguson wrote... “Pounding over every blade of grass, competing as if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him. I felt it was an honour to be associated with such a player.”
CM: Paul Ince
Keane overlooked one immensely-talented English midfielder in Paul Scholes to accommodate Ince instead.
The West Ham youngster joined in 1989 and spent six years with the club before spells at Inter Milan, Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Wolves.
Keane says... "I played with Incey in his prime and people tend to forget how good he was."
Keane did put the team together in 2013 as part of an ITV documentary and admitted soon afterwards he felt "uncomfortable" and "embarrassed" picking his XI, vowing to make three or four changes if he redid it.
LM: Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo signed for Manchester United in 2003 after impressing Sir Alex with Sporting Lisbon.
He may not have shown his best football while Keane was at the club but the Portugal star went on to become one of the best players in the world before signing for Real Madrid in 2009.
Keane says... "He was a young player when he came to United. But a great attitude. He’ll score you goals for fun."
It means no place for Old Trafford hero Ryan Giggs but Keane added: "Just because you had a great career it doesn't mean you're a great player."
However, appearing on Sky Sports as a pundit, the Ireland international insisted Giggs was one of the five world-class players he played with - Scholes, Eric Cantona, Mark Hughes and Irwin being the others.
ST: Ruud van Nistelrooy
The Dutchman scored a staggering 150 goals in just five years at Old Trafford, including 44 in his second season.
A deadly eye for goal, Keane was always delighted to have Van Nistelrooy in the side to bury any chance he got.
Keane says... "In terms of finishers Ruud was the guy for that. When I saw him go through one-on-one with a keeper I just knew it was a goal."
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ST: Eric Cantona
Cantona's arrival at Old Trafford in 1992 proved critical as the club embarked on their dominance of English football.
The Frenchman played a key role in that with his 82 goals and maverick style - on and off the pitch - winning four Premier League titles in five years.
Keane says... "Eric was a big character. When he came to United we’d threatened to win the league for many, many years. Eric was just that difference."
A strike force of Cantona and Van Nistelrooy, though, means no place for United's record goalscorer Rooney.
