Roy Keane has named Sir Alex Ferguson on his ‘Mount Rushmore’ of football, just a few months after making a “bad smell” remark about Manchester United. Keane is currently part of ITV’s punditry team for the World Cup, which is taking place in North America, with the United States, Canada and Mexico co-hosting the tournament.
The tournament is set to take centre stage in the football world over the next few weeks, and Keane will be a regular figure for ITV viewers throughout the course of the tournament.
The United legend was asked to name his ‘Mount Rushmore’ of football, meaning the four people he views as the most important to him in the game.
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Keane went on to name Ferguson as his managerial choice.
“The manager I spent most of my time with was Sir Alex Ferguson,” Keane said on ITV Football’s post on X. “Obviously, disappointing the way he treated me at the end. But that’s life, I’m not one to hold grudges.”
Keane went on to name the other figures in football he would include in his ‘Mount Rushmore’ list, explaining the reasons for his choices.
“From a younger age, watching players growing up, I loved watching Brazil and Maradona, particularly Zico and Maradona,” Keane said. “I’ll go with Maradona.
“As I was getting a bit older and looking for breaks, I’d have to put Brian Clough in there. Giving me the opportunity to go to England and have a career.
“A big influence on me would have been Jack Charlton. The job that he did with Ireland, and he played in 1994 here [United States].
“I was a bit young to maybe appreciate Jack’s messages, but I’d put him in there.”
Keane’s remarks about Ferguson come after the United legend questioned some of the decisions made by the club.
The comments made by Keane came soon after United parted company with Ruben Amorim as head coach, where reports emerged claiming that Ferguson met with chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox.
Speaking after Arsenal and Liverpool battled out a goalless draw in January, Keane told Sky Sports: “Who is making the decisions at United, you have still got [Sir Alex] Ferguson and David Gill hanging around like a bad smell. Who is making the decisions? [Sir Jim] Ratcliffe, Wilcox? Who is going into the interview process, getting a feeler for them and saying, 'this is the guy for us'?”
