Roy Keane Manchester United
Roy Keane has admitted that he was ‘worried’ when Newcastle United signed the ‘brilliant’ Les Ferdinand. Newcastle finished third in their first season back in the top-flight and although the black-and-whites fell to sixth in their second campaign, Keegan’s side came roaring back. Newcastle certainly showed their ambition in the summer of 1995 by signing David Ginola, Warren Barton, Shaka Hislop, and, of course, Ferdinand, who won the PFA players’ player of the year trophy in his first season at St James’ Park. The number nine quickly made an impact – scoring 19 goals in his opening 21 games of the campaign – as Newcastle raced out of the blocks. By January 1996, Newcastle were 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Geordies need no reminding about what happened next and Keane claimed at the time that ‘we always knew Newcastle would slip up’. However, the former Manchester United midfielder had a lot of respect for Ferdinand.
Roy Keane said, “Fans take to strikers who score goals. He was a proper, old-fashioned number nine who could deal with the ball. Brilliant. Nice to see lads scoring headers. He was a good player and a pretty decent guy as well. You were always worried when Newcastle were signing players and they were goal scorers, but we were pretty decent and we hunted them down.”
