-=SimPly mE=-

There's only 1 Keano

This post will not interest you if you're not a soccer fan =D

Guess all of you know by now that Roy Keane has left Manchester United (my beloved club).. Any Manchester United fans will know what a great player Keane was for the team... Who could forget the semi final against Juventus when he inspired the team to the Champions League Final and ultimately winning it, knowing that he would be suspended for the game.

Who else in the team played with more determination than him, fighting for every loose ball and snapping around at the opposition... Keane has brought nothing but success to Manchester in his twelve years there.. This is a player who demands no less than 100% from his team-mates and has no fear of letting them noe if they didn't do exactly just that. Remember the interview he gave that was scrapped by Ferguson before it even went on tv?

At 34, Keane's past his prime. This has been magnified by the fact that the likes of Juventus and Roma have distanced themselves from transfer speculation with him.. However, half of the premiership have stated a desire to sign Keane.. And why not ? With Keane, you know you're getting a winner.. A guy who can instill a winning mentality in the team, a true leader, a guy who can motivate his team, a guy who lets players know when they're underperforming.. He might not be able to push himself to the high standards of Man United anymore, but he will be able to excel at a smaller club.

I'm sad to see Roy Keane leaving Man United but no 1 player is bigger than the club.. Man United has coped with the loss of Bryan Robson and Eric "The King" Cantona.. However, this begets a question.. Who will u find to replace Roy Keane ? Seriously, I've been thinking about this question since two to three years ago.. And till now I haven't been able to come up with a suitable candidate.. Gattuso of AC Milan for me comes closest to replacing Roy Keane.. Tough tackling, no-nonsense, full of steel and determination. However he is no Roy Keane, he doesn't have the leadership qualities of Roy Keane that can inspire the whole team to perform or drive the team to salvage a losing game..

Anyway this is a question that Sir Alex Ferguson will have to solve and i really do hope that he can find a more than adequate replacement.. I do not want to see a repeat of Peter Schmeichel's episode where they could not find a replacement even after getting more than ten goalkeepers.

From now onwards, we can no longer see the famous red shirt with the word KEANE and the number 16 printed behind anymore.. Twelve years of sterling service - including seven league titles, four FA Cups and a European Cup

A legend has left...

posted by `Cloud` @ 8:26 PM