On This Day in 2006, Roy Keane showed his class after putting on a show of sheer grit and determination as Gordon Strachan’s Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 at Ibrox. After signing for Celtic at the end of December from Man Utd, Keane arrived with enormous fanfare having been one of Sir Alex’s most trusted advisors.
The former United captain started in midfield with Neil Lennon and the Irishman provided a masterclass in central midfield, breaking up play, finding passes and protecting his defence. A colossal 18 points separated the teams and that stood at 21 points when Zurawski slotted the ball into the net after just 12 minutes.
Keane made just 13 appearances for Celtic, scoring once before he was forced to retire. It is a shame that fans were only limited to such a small amount of games watching Keane as games like this showcase how good a player he still was, even if he was in the twilight of his career.
Keane would help Celtic complete a double that season with the League Cup and League, his last as a player. Keane has made the move into management and coaching since retiring but he continues to earn the headlines for his work as a pundit.
There’s a bit of cringe about being delighted that a past-it Roy Keane slummed it with us for a few months. He played just as badly as Du Wei in the cup defeat to Clyde and the above game was played against an old Rangers team just about to lose their manager, Big Eck. The result was very welcome despite our already large lead, but nobody sparkled far less gave a masterclass in this game. The myth has grown up within the Celtic support but contemporaneous reports don’t pinpoint this nor do the highlights justify it. The BBC report only mentions Roy getting booked. An English newspaper, The Independent, unsurprisingly praised the recently departed PL player for his tackling including a cynical tackle for a booking, conceding a free kick . that led to a Rangers chance. The Guardian was more tempered describing Keane as unflustered and snarling. Possibly his best review for this match was in Follow Follow where they say he deserved to be sent off (an accolade they gave to John Hartson too). The Rangers team on that day were well beaten but Roy Keane did not have to do too much to keep them at bay; they were less capable than Clyde in that respect.
Roy Keane was a great footballer, but not for Celtic, not even at Ibrox. Roy Keane himself is more scathing than me about his fitness and ability at Celtic. He wasn’t even that desperate to play for us as he mostly signed to piss off Gordon Strachan.