Unsourced

• Alex Ferguson rang me up, flew me to Manchester, we didn't discuss contracts, just football and I joined.

• Away from home our fans are fantastic...but at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch.

• Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
  • On his fallout with Mick McCarthy at World Cup 2002 over team preparations or lack thereof.

• I hate losing in training, I'm always arguing, having a go at everybody. I take my job very seriously.

• I love it when the team scores....the lads are always giving me stick because of it, but I'm just so happy I can't help it.

• I still say the '94 Double team is the best. They could outfight you or outplay you, depending on the way you wanted it. But this side is moving in the same direction.

• I was a Manchester United player. We only partied when we won.
  • On the Irish team at the 2002 World Cup

• I'll never change my game. It isn't possible. If I did I would be half the player that I am.

• Patrick Vieira is 6 foot 4, and he starts having a go at Gary Neville, so I said 'come on have a go at me'. Simple as that. He's trying to intimidate my players and I'm not having any of it.

• He (Vieira) was going on and on about the charity work he was doing in Senegal, and I said to him "if you love Senegal so much, why don't you f***ing play for them?"

• Players these days are not interested in playing football. They're just interested in how much money they can get.
  • As manager of Sunderland trying to sign players.

• Sometimes you wonder, do they understand the game of football?

• The fans are worried that Sky might forget about the genuine fans and I'd like to think that the chairman doesn't forget about the hardcore fans. At United we feel there are a lot of shirt and tie people at the match and the genuine fans haven't been getting the opportunity to buy tickets, and if they have it's too expensive.

• The type of game I play, I'm going to pick up injuries and suspensions, unfortunately.

• People need to set their standards a bit higher and not live in the past. Whoever said I want to be remembered? Why should I worry about what people think about me in the future? I might be dead tomorrow.

• I do not think I will ever be happy. I do not think I will. It is not in my nature, it is not in my blood. I get glimpses of it. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/it-is-not-in-my-nature-to-ever-be-happy-says-keane-443679.html

• Some people say that great players never make great managers. Well I never was a great player.
  • Upon his appointment as Sunderland manager. He later took them from the very bottom of the Championship table to the top, winning it and earning promotion.

About Roy Keane

• Roy Keane's probably the funniest person in the team. In the changing room, he'll say `watch this' and he'll start humming or singing a song near Pally. Five minutes later Pally will be singing the same song! Never fails that one!
  • Ryan Giggs

• Roy Keane is Damien, the devil incarnate off the film The Omen. He's evil. Even in training.
  • Giggs on Keane the Red Devil

• The games we lost this season we would never have lost with Keane playing. If he had been on the field, I think there would have been something different about the place. There has been a lack of leadership because of the youthfulness of the team.
  • Alex Ferguson on the absence of Roy Keane throughout 1997-98

• I don't think I could have a higher opinion of any footballer than I all ready had of the Irishman, but he rose even further in my estimation at the Stadio Delle Alpi. The minute he was booked and out of the final he seemed to redouble his efforts to get the team there. It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. 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.
  • Alex Ferguson on Roy Keane after the European Cup semi-final tie against Juventus in the 1998-99 season.

• Both as a player and as a competitor, Roy Keane is the closest I have seen in my lifetime to Duncan Edwards.
  • Manchester United and England legend Sir Bobby Charlton who also claimed that Duncan Edwards was the one player who made him feel inferior.

• OK so you can win things with kids, but you can win anything with a player like Keane in your side, he just dominated today, Keane is the best midfielder in Britain.
  • Alan Hansen directly after the 1996 FA Cup Final in which United's "kids" won the double.

• The best player I have played against until now would be Roy Keane. In all the times I played against him, I don't think I got anywhere near him - even to try to kick him!
  • Kevin Nolan, Bolton Wanderers captain.

• He is a quality player, a great leader and the best captain I've ever had.
  • Rio Ferdinand http://www.rte.ie/sport/2005/1001/keane.html

• Manchester United were a different side when he was in the team. Coming up against him was awesome. Everything he did seemed to come so easily to him. When you speak to fellow professionals about Keane they hold him in the most incredible regard. He was a pure winner.
  • Kevin Nolan, Bolton Wanderers captain. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6521245.stm

• He has been one of their greatest players and one of the greatest captains the game has seen.
• I have massive respect for Roy Keane. He was tough, he was hard but I loved our rivalry. I have a big respect for him as a player.
  • Patrick Vieira http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=35074

• People often talk about Roy Keane as if he was a hooligan, but the lad knows how to play football. Yes, he is aggressive. Yes, he is cantankerous. Yes, if the ball is between him and you in midfield, he makes you jump. But beyond that, he is a super footballer. He scores, he influences his team and the crowd. He'll be respected for ever. He is a football legend with Republic of Ireland and Manchester United.
  • Thierry Henry