Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has renewed hostilities with Alan Shearer this week after making a savage dig in front of huge Newcastle United fans Ant and Dec during an episode of the Overlap Stick to Football podcast. “Keano” has long made it clear that he never really got along with the Premier League’s top goalscorer during his playing days.
Last September, he called out the Geordie icon for being “nasty” and “sneaky” with his elbows to protect the ball, to which Shearer responded by alluding to the Irishman’s poor disciplinary record – 96 yellow cards and 13 red cards over his career – as he also ranks at the very top of the list of the Premier League’s worst red-card tackles.
In hindsight, it’s a bit ironic that Keano would call out someone else for machiavellian tactics. But to keep up his track record of producing comedy gold during his punditry career, he couldn’t resist taking another veiled jab at his old rival when the perfect opportunity arose.
Roy Keane Makes Savage Alan Shearer Dig In Front of Ant & Dec
Nobody holds a grudge better than Keane, who seems unable to move on from his 2001 sending off against Shearer, when a push and a shove from the striker encouraged the midfielder-turned-pundit to throw a punch and receive a red card that he later revealed almost saw him retire from football, aged just 30.
Any chance is a good chance to take a swipe at the 260-goal Premier League icon, and there was always going to be one when Ant and Dec were invited onto the latest Overlap Stick to Football podcast episode to talk about everything from the I’m a Celeb jungle to their love for Newcastle United. When Declan Donnelly revealed that, if he got a tattoo, he’d have ‘Shearer 9’ on his shoulder, Keano pounced to reply (watch below):
“Would his elbow be up like that [making an elbowing gesture]?”
Of course, the Irishman’s quip produced a laugh from everyone in the studio, with Alex Scott, Gary Neville, and Ian Wright in attendance as always. Yet, while he struggled to hide a wry smile himself, Keane would probably also love another opportunity to clash with Shearer like in the good old days.
Famous for his memorable battles with Patrick Vieira, Keane goes down as one of the hardest players in football history. He played in the final era of English football where players could get away with being a little more aggressive in the tackle, and he took full advantage of that by becoming one of the most intimidating midfielders in Premier League history.
They simply don’t make them like him anymore, but some people are mistaken if they think the only thing he was good at was flying into challenges at 100mph. His leadership and dictatorial playing style ed to him winning seven Premier League titles, four of which he won as captain. The Irishman was also technically superb on the ball and was extremely intelligent, which are traits to his game that he doesn’t get enough praise for.
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