YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THIS DARREN

Last updated : 11 May 2006 By Ed

Fletcher:

"Everyone's talking about replacing Roy Keane and that will never happen.

"No matter who you talk about, you can talk about (Michael) Ballack, you can talk about whoever you want but they won't replace Roy Keane.

"That's not taking anything away from their footballing ability but Roy Keane was a one-off. He was a great player on the pitch and he had the leadership qualities no one else had. He combined both.

"You get players who have the leadership qualities but he was a world class player as well, with world class leadership, and they're never going to replace that."

More about himself:

"I played more than 40 games which is much more than I did the previous season," he said.

"I stuttered a bit towards the end. The manager made a decision and, to be fair, Ryan and John exceeded everyone's expectations in midfield in performing so well and I couldn't get back in and that's the way football is.

"If you perform then you stay in the team. I managed to get back in the team for a couple of games but then I got injured, so it's a bit of a mixed bag end to the season."