In possibly his most relaxed interview to date Roy shared with Guide Dog Owner Kevin Kelly who is also a member of the Blind Football Ireland some unique insights into this life, his involvement with the Irish team, something he said he didn’t envisage happening “in a million years, but I love working with the Ireland senior team”, his new role as a pundit and a witty comparison between life as a player now and the Jack Charlton years. He also explained that while he missed elements of life as a professional footballer he was content with the success he had as a player and where he is now: “There are parts of you, which is only natural, thinking I wouldn’t mind a kick around. But I don’t wake up every morning going I wish I was a player. I was very lucky. I played at Forest for three years, I had 12 and a half for United, I had six months at Celtic. Instead of looking back, what I do is count my blessings.”
His relationship with Alex Ferguson came under question by a probing Kevin with a philosophical Roy saying: “I fell out with Ferguson towards the end but I had 12 and a half great years working with him and I wouldn’t swap that for anything, it was brilliant. People will talk about disagreements and fallouts but you’re trying to win football matches and there’s a lot of pressure... I like people to have disagreements, that’s the nature of the game we’re in. So the fact that I have disagreements with Ferguson or ex-team mates, to me that’s the most natural thing in the world. I get worried if I don’t fall out with people every few months!” he joked.
Talking about his involvement with Guide Dogs Roy said: “I got involved many years ago, thinking it might last one or two years, but I think the Guide Dogs are like the mafia, once you join it you can’t leave! No obviously I enjoy it. As soon as you meet people with the dogs saying how much the dogs means to them and without them they wouldn’t be able to get out and about, it’s absolutely fantastic.”
Roy joked that he now gets recognised a lot for his connection with Irish Guide Dogs rather than football: “Strangely enough people think I never played football that I’ve always just been involved with the Guide dogs. A lot of people talk to me about just that - I did play for a while you know!”
Roy Keane urged the public to support Guide Dog Day and text WOOF to 50300 to donate €4 or buy a badge at a collection point.
Roy’s interviewee Kevin is a member of the Blind Football Ireland Squad, a Guide Dog Owner to Miles and was one of 23 clients who met with Roy Keane at a closed event to mark the launch of Guide Dog Day, Irish Guide Dog’s biggest fundraising campaign in the year which is supported by Hills dog food. “They say it’s never a great idea to meet your hero, but on this occasion that was far from the truth,” said Kevin about the experience. “Being a huge Manchester United fan and having an interest in Roy Keane’s development as a manager, like many I had some pre-conceptions about Roy which as you’ll see from the interview were blown away. Roy was very frank, open and funny. He was welcoming all day with everyone he met.”
Currently Irish Guide Dogs supports approximately 860 people all over Ireland and it offers all of its dog and rehabilitation services to people free of charge. Guide Dog Day is its biggest national campaign with collection points all over Ireland.
To support Guide Dog Day
- Text WOOF to 50300 to donate €4. (100% of text goes to Irish Guide Dogs across most network operators. Some operators apply VAT which means that a minimum of €3.25 will go to Irish Guide Dogs. Service provider: LIKECHARITY. Helpline: 0766805278.)
- Buy a badge at its street and Tesco collections all around the country on Friday 1st May including O’Connell Street, Grafton Street, Dublin; Shop Street, Galway; Patrick Street, Cork. Check out guidedogs.ie for full listing.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
