Rio Ferdinand has reflected on his first training session at Manchester United and the impact a scolding from Roy Keane had on his career.
I got the ball and passed to Gary, who was on my team. In a normal game that was a great ball – pass to your teammate, go up the pitch. And then Keane turned round and just started going: ‘Pass it forward, take risks, you’re not at Leeds or West Ham now, you’re at Manchester United!
This guy is crazy man, what’s he doing! I passed it to a team-mate, surely I’m doing alright. I got home later that day and thought: ‘This guy is nuts, how am I going to deal with him on a daily basis?’
And then I realised that you’ve got to take chances and that’s how I ended up playing my career. Not just passing the simple ball to Gary, but into the strikers to make a difference.
Do we have a player today like Keane who is driving up standards in the same way, I wonder.
