Keane and Vieira - Best of Enemies

ROY KEANE:
Roy Keane says Brian Clough was best boss he played for 'without a doubt'

He calls his current relationship with Sir Alex as 'non existent'

He cried in his car outside training ground after Ferguson told him his time at Old Trafford was up

He accused me of managing United behind his back, but I managed the dressing room.'

'Control and power, that's how he works. He is still striving for it now even though he isn't the manager. There is a massive ego involved.'

An interview with MUTV where he criticised younger players at United signalled the end before being released in 2005, but Keane insists that incident was blown out of proportion by the club.
Ferguson described it as a disgrace but Keane said: 'He was wrong. I said a few comments. Some on Darren Fletcher's tackling but it was almost tongue-in-cheek. They were the players I cared about.

'The manager said to me that we had come to the end. I had lost respect for him.
'I knew that was business. I drove back home. I was upset. I shed a few tears in my car outside the training ground for about two minutes.
'I could've played for United for another couple of years.'

David Beckham, but not Ryan Giggs, made it into Roy Keane’s Manchester United XI because he ‘challenged’ Sir Alex Ferguson

The former England captain had well-known disputes with his manager, notably about the company he was keeping, before moving to Real Madrid in 2003 and makes an all-star cast - almost all of whom had their differences with Ferguson.

‘You know you don’t win league titles by having choir boys in your dressing room,’ Keane said. ‘These boys did challenge the manager in different ways. Becks challenged the manager, but because you marry a certain woman doesn’t mean you’re challenging the manager. Far from it.

‘I think the manager’s got to understand that we’ve got different personalities in our dressing room but maybe that’s why we are winning trophies.’

ROY’S UTD DREAM TEAM
GK:Peter Schmeichel
RB:Paul Parker
CB:Gary Pallister
CB:Jaap Stam
LB:Denis Irwin
RM:DavidBeckham
CM:Paul Ince
CM:Roy Keane
LM:Cristiano Ronaldo
ST:Eric Cantona
ST:Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Giggs was excluded to make room for Ronaldo, with Keane reasoning: ‘Having a great career doesn’t mean you’re a great player, I think there is a big difference.
‘I’m not saying Giggs wasn’t... do I leave Ronaldo out? One of the world’s greatest players? Do I leave Becks out? I just couldn’t feel like I could leave Becks out.’

PATRICK VIEIRA:
Vieira was also asked for the best Arsenal XI while he was at the club, which wasn’t quite as controversial.

Thierry Henry and Dannis Bergkamp both made it, unsurprisingly, while wingers Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg - so effective during the Invincibles year - got the nod too.

Interestingly, Vieira claims that Ashley Cole was a ready-made Arsenal captain had he not left for Chelsea in 2006.
Talking about when Cole moved to Stamford Bridge, Vieira said: ‘I was quite surprised to be honest. I tried to fight it a little bit because I wanted him to stay.

‘Ashley was supposed to be the next Arsenal captain because he was a player from the youth, grew up to the club and to let him go and see him go was disappointing.’

PATRICK VIEIRA’S ARSENAL DREAM TEAM
GK:David Seaman
RB:Lauren
CB:Tony Adams
CB:Sol Campbell
LB:Ashley Cole
RM:Freddie Ljungberg
CM:Patrick Vieira
CM:Emmanuel Petit
LM:Robert Pires
ST:Dennis Bergkamp
ST:Thierry Henry

The pair then had to create a dream team made up of the two squads, with the main bone of contention coming at left-back.

Keane fought hard for Denis Irwin’s inclusion while his rival argued the case of Cole. Amusingly they couldn’t agree.

‘You’d have Denis Irwin in there every day of the week,’ Keane said bullishly.
‘No,’ was the straight reply. ‘Ashley is...’ Vieira started before being cut off.

‘Never heard any off the field stuff (with Irwin),’ smiled Keane. Eventually both players were named.

Beckham was omitted from that side after Vieira insisted on Pires coming in on the right-hand side.
‘Pires over Becks? Jesus, Patrick!’

The two had themselves patrolling the middle of the park.

‘I’ll put myself in there, that’d be good. Ill probably be sent off,’ Keane said.

Vieira: ‘Can you imagine? You would be sent off one week I would be sent off the next.’

These two received 21 career red cards between them

COMBINED TEAM
GK:Peter Schmeichel
RB:Lauren
CB:Tony Adams
CB:Jaap Stam
LB:Ashley Cole/Denis Irwin
RM:Cristiano Ronaldo
CM:Roy Keane
CM:Patrick Vieira
LM:Robert Pires
ST:Thierry Henry
ST:Eric Cantona