‘Don’t ever do that again!’ - When Roy Keane confronted Nicky Butt and embarrassed Sir Alex Ferguson in Manchester United training

On a recent interview of Gary Neville’s Stick to Football podcast, the host reeled off the background behind each of Roy Keane’s 13 red cards for Manchester United.

“He deserved it… I was unlucky with that one… I don’t think that tackle was even that bad...” Just some of the defences the Irishman gave when the scenarios of every dismissal was put to him.

Keane has often leant into his bad boy reputation, including when in the punditry chair. Whether it’s hammering David de Gea on Sky or lambasting Jonathan Walters on stage, the 52-year-old has not been afraid of making headlines.

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He was splashed over the back pages during his playing career, perhaps most notoriously in 2002 when he was sent home from the Ireland camp ahead of the World Cup. Mick McCarthy will not be invited to appear on the Overlap any time soon.

But being in front of the camera post-retirement has also shown the other side to Keane. From setting up - then deleting - his own Instagram to even dabbling in some modelling, he is perhaps moulding himself into a loveable rogue more than a brutish bulldog.

But you would be mistaken in thinking that these mellowed characteristics have only come with age. Former United academy member Kevin Grogan can testify that Keane has always possessed softer qualities.

Grogan was part of Ireland’s Under-16s side that won the European Championship in 1998, two years after being brought in to United on a full-time basis aged 15. The Dublin-born footballer subsequently suffered from a pelvic injury that forced him into retirement aged 21.

Grogan had made several attempts at a comeback before the decision was made, at one staged