HANSEN HUGS

Warm words from Hansen’s Telegraph column:

‘One of the real sadnesses is that the relationship between Keane and Ferguson, which was at the heart of so much of Manchester United's success, should have ended this way. A manager must have complete control of what happens in a dressing room and the moment that control starts to go is the moment he is in trouble. Ferguson had to act.

Keane is a fiery character who expects excellence from himself and everyone around him, but he is not stupid. He must have known that the things he reportedly said about his team-mates on MUTV would have caused severe problems. He must have known, too, that it would bring him into direct conflict with Ferguson, who, since his arrival at Old Trafford in 1986, has made a policy of never criticising his players by name in public. It was not as if Keane had no time to think about what he was saying. It was a pre-recorded interview.

People talk about Cantona as the best player United had under Ferguson but Keane was in a class of his own. He was, at his peak, the best player the Premiership has seen; he was three in one, a holding midfielder, a central midfielder and a box-to-box player.

Overall, he was better than Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Patrick Vieira or anyone else.

He maintained a peak of performance for four to five years. When players talk about consistency, they usually mean they played well in two games out of every three. Keane's standards meant that, at his peak, he hardly ever had a poor game.

When people discuss Keane they mention his outbursts and his discipline but, from a pure footballing point of view, he was often untouchable and it is one of the saddest aspects of the whole story that one of the giants of Old Trafford should have left a club he once dominated like this.’