Keane set standard as leader
BRYAN ROBSON believes the current generation of footballers are afraid to upset their teammates and are too respectful to each other on the pitch.
Manchester United’s Captain Marvel feels players are less inclined to take responsibility once they cross the white line, citing the difference between how both he and one of his successors as Old Trafford captain, Roy Keane, operated compared to those now charged with returning the club to its former glory.
‘Off the pitch Roy would be quiet but on it, even as a kid with Notts Forest, he was loud on the pitch, but that’s just a natural professionalism. You’ve either got that or you don’t. Roy was a bit like myself, I remember when I was eight years old that I would argue with teachers that were refereeing the game because you’re into the game and you’ve got an opinion,’ Robson said.
‘Roy was like that, he had his opinion, and he wasn’t afraid. That’s what’s wrong with players to a certain degree in today’s game. They’ve got a great football brain but they’re afraid to shout out to teammates in case they are giving the wrong information and the manager has a go at them.
‘But if you’ve got a real good football brain, you will invariably give your team-mate the right advice. I never thought about that in my days, I shouted what I thought at the time and you get on with the game. You don’t think you’re wrong in what you shout, and Roy was definitely like that.
‘The academy [system] maybe makes people like that, too respectful, and then players in today’s game just don’t seem as if they want to upset their teammates. You got wired into somebody to get the best out of them and you weren’t bothered about their feelings because it’s a job and you want to win.’
Ironically, it was Keane’s scathing criticism of some of his teammates in an interview with MUTV which led to his departure from the club in 2005 as Alex Ferguson felt he crossed a line.
‘Where Roy overstepped the mark was where he did it in public instead of doing it behind closed doors,’ Robson continued. ‘If you have a go at one of your teammates then it’s “right, I’ve said my piece” and that’s the end of it as far as I’m concerned.
‘If you’re upset and not happy with me, well, get on with it. You’re doing that sort of thing to get the best out of them, you’re not having a go at someone for the sake of having a go at them and you’re in a team game. If they’re letting you down, you want to shake them up so they are concentrating more on the job.’
Current United manager Jose Mourinho appears to value those old-school principles on the pitch, despite also publicly criticising some of his players, and Robson reckons he is suffering because of the manner in which rivals Manchester City are romping to the Premier League title.
However, he is adamant it could be worse for United. ‘It would be harder if it was Liverpool. A lot of ex-players would feel it harder if it was Liverpool who were running away with it and playing the way City are,’ he added.
‘City have set new standards so you’ve got to get to those standards if you don’t want to be criticised. But Mourinho seems to attract more criticism than any of the other managers. He’s getting loads of criticism, yet Liverpool and Tottenham are worse off than us.’
Bryan Robson was speaking at the launch of Carling’s Play on a Premier League Pitch Experience. Carling are giving Irish fans the chance to win an experience of a lifetime to play a match on a Premier League pitch. To enter, visit facebook.com/CarlingIreland