It's fair to say that Roy Keane often struggles to understand the 'modern player'. In his role as a pundit on both ITV and Sky Sports he has often lamented the direction the way the game has travelled in recent years, especially in terms of the way footballers behave off the pitch.

We are also aware of the run-ins he has had in his post-playing career as a result.

However, it appears that this was even starting to grate on him during the end of his time at Manchester United.

Appearing on Monday Night Football earlier this season, Wayne Rooney recalled how he pissed off Keane early in his time at Manchester United by turning off a rugby match the Corkman was watching and hiding the remote control.

It annoyed Keane, and appearing on Sky Sports recently, he said he struggled to get along with younger players during this period.


I wouldn't say I warmed to the guy, I certainly didn't dislike him. The guy was on a different wavelength, different banter. If hiding the remote control is their type of banter, then not for me... Your dressing room is always changing. Every summer you get one or two new players coming in, the dynamics change, young players are coming in. Towards the end of my career I was looking around the dressing room and people like Rooney, Ferdinand, Fletcher, and O'Shea were there. The dynamics were changing, which I used to roll with because I enjoyed it and gave the place a new type of energy. If they were good players you'd go 'listen, they will help us win trophies'. But towards the end with some of these lads, I remember thinking 'I don't get some of these lads, I don't get their banter, I don't get their humour'. I very rarely had a conversation with any of them.

Keane would leave Old Trafford in 2005, joining Celtic.

He has spoken in-depth about his departure in the past, but has admitted that there were a lot of players he didn't particularly miss:

When I left the club there were a lot of players that I probably didn't miss one bit. I just thought they weren't for me. The game was changing. I would look around the dressing room after training and the amount of players that were on their phones and all that type of thing. Maybe I'm a bit old school or grumpy, I don't know... I didn't always get them. I just thought personality wise they just weren't for me. Obviously they were very good players and I was delighted to play with them, but in terms of having banter with them and having a cup of tea or a coffee, nah forget it.

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