Explosive Roy Keane has Premier League stars cowering in fear before live games on Sky Sports - according to pitchside reporter Laura Woods.
The broadcaster has revealed big-name players check in with her before kick-off over fears the straight-shooting Irishman is in the wings ready to fire a verbal volley in their direction.
Keane returned in incredible fashion on Friday as he ripped Manchester United keeper David De Gea to shreds and claimed he would have been "swinging punches" at him after his Tottenham howler.
And Woods has confirmed nervous stars are regularly on high alert before they take to the field in front of live TV cameras.
Speaking on her talkSPORT breakfast show, she said: "I know as well that players do take notice of who is in the studio.
"I know that for a fact, because when you are on the ground, and they go 'who is in the studio today?', and you go 'it's Roy Keane', and they go 'argh'.
"Those players (De Gea and Maguire) probably would have known, I'm not saying the first thing you do is check Sky but if you know Roy Keane is in the studio, I mean."
And Darren Bent offered his opinion on the no-nonsense Irishman having spent time with him while Keane was on the coaching staff at Aston Villa.
He added: "A lot of the time when you get critiqued by a pundit, at times, you think they don't have a valid point but there's times where it really hurts because it is true.
"You know you've made the mistakes, you know in yourself you haven't performed very well."
