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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Pirie

Inside a Roy Keane dressing room as Hibs frontrunners brutal lock ins and Lucozade rants revealed

Roy Keane has become best known to football fans for his brutal rants in post match analysis.

But will it be the same for the Hibs players if he does land the Easter Road top job?

The notorious dressing room presence of Keane wasn't left behind in this playing days as he took his tirades with him into his managerial career.

He is now the bookies favourite to succeed Shaun Maloney as Ron Gordon looks to revitalise the capital side.

It's been a mixed spell in the dugout so far for Keane during spells at Sunderland and Ipswich, while also acting as a number two at Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.

Record Sport takes a look at some of the testimonials from former players about the demands of Keane during his dugout spells so far.

Martyn Waghorn at Sunderland

The former Rangers star was handed his debut by Keane as a 17-year-old against Manchester United during his two year stint at Sunderland.

And he admits it was a terrifying sight to see him unleash - as he a half-time explosion during a match with Blackburn Rovers.

Speaking to Open Goal, Waghorn stated: "I was on the bench. I think we were losing one nil at half-time and he comes in and there's a tactics board in the middle of the room.

Roy Keane spent just over two years in charge of Sunderland. (Getty Images)

"It gets volleyed so far across the dressing room.

"People are sitting with their heads down on their hands. He goes past and smacks their hands away so their heads are falling. He was completely gone.

"I'm sitting there thinking 'please don't come to me'. I'm on the bench. That's how bad it was getting.

"The lads are hiding from drinks bottles and stuff flying everywhere."

David Connolly at Sunderland

Connolly also has some cautionary notes for the Hibs players after working under Keane at Sunderland.

Ryan Porteous and Kevin Nisbet could be set for a tough love approach should the Manchester United hero replace Shaun Maloney.

The former Ireland striker told talkSPORT: “His honesty was maybe a bit brutal and maybe you had to have a thick skin to deal with it and if you couldn’t you might find it difficult to play or thrive under Roy – some players did and others didn’t.

“His version of a pat on the back would be a thumb up or a sort of nod or ‘well done’. He was quite subtle, he wouldn’t be overly tactile. He wasn’t a contact manager, not much hugging or high flying but you’d certainly have a handshake before you go out and you’d be expected to do your job and he trusted you to do it.

“A lot of it is signing players able to perform, not necessarily coaching them to improve 100 per cent. That wasn’t Roy’s way.”

Anthony Stokes at Sunderland

Anthony Stokes got in a bit of hot water with then-Black Cats boss Roy Keane over a missed bus journey.

Keane sent a warning to Stokes, Tobias Hysen and Martin Fulop after they failed to arrive at the set time of 4.15pm - and the bus left without them.

Keane said: “I know they’ve not killed anybody and I can be quite a forgiving person but ultimately the team comes first.

"There had been that lacklustre approach but you must draw the line somewhere.”

Andros Townsend at Ipswich

Keane' s next managerial post would be at Ipswich Town, and that only saw the pundit ramp up his dressing room takedowns.

Andros Townsend joined the club from Tottenham on loan as a youngster, and admits he found it tough to win over his boss.

Now with Everton, he said: “After a game, he would lock you in the dressing room for about an hour.

(Action Images)

“He would go around the dressing room, telling each player what he thinks of them and he didn’t mince his words.

“Yeah, unfortunately, as a young, tricky winger who didn’t really buy into the defensive side of the game back then he was unfortunately pretty tough on me!”

Darren Bent at Aston Villa

Keane worked as Paul Lambert's assistant in 2014 - and he certainly hadn't mellowed since his first two jobs in the hot seat.

Darren Bent has revealed that Keane would take the reins from Lambert in the post-match dressing down - and took on a scattergun rant after a defeat to QPR.

He told talkSPORT: “I remember, we played QPR away. We got beat 2-0 and Charlie Austin scored two good goals.

“He (Keane) came in, I'm not even exaggerating, two and a half hours later we were still in the change room and he was still going absolutely ballistic. Paul Lambert was manager at the time and didn't say anything.

“Roy went after the Lucozade that people were drinking,

“The masseuse too, he said too many people were getting massages. Ron Vlaar had a calf strain and was out for six weeks. He was like ‘how can anyone have a calf strain and be out for six weeks?’

“He spoke about not drinking water. Honestly, everything you could think of… he went at. Everyone had their heads down. If he made eye contact with you, you were getting it.”

Michael Dawson at Nottingham Forest

Keane would return to former club Nottingham Forest alongside former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill.

The blunt nature of the Ireland cap would continue during his spell with the Championship side - as revealed by Michael Dawson.

He told The Athletic: “He (Keane) is just very, very honest. He will be straight with you. But if you give your all he would never have any issue with him. I have seen him lose it, but it was only for good reason.

"If you think that you are better than you are and have a bad game, people will not accept it. That is what Roy is like. He will tell you what he thinks. But if you give everything you have, you will never have a problem with him.”

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