'Get rid of all of them!' - Roy Keane rubbed up the wrong way by 'cocky' football masseurs
The Roy Facts: Gary Keane Neville Wayne And Massage Rooney Wright, With Ian
With the prawn sandwich brigade, the Haalands and Alex Ferguson, we can now add masseurs to Roy Keane's list.
They may be a big part of a modern backroom staff, but the former Man Utd and Ireland skipper has labelled masseurs 'cocky' and 'useless' and stated he'd get rid of them all.
“What used to annoy me was the lads who used to do the massages, they’d get a bit cocky," Keane says on the latest episode of Stick To Football.
"They settle into the club then they think they’re running the show, have got the music on and the team wins something, and all the masseurs would be on the pitch – just relax lads.
“They all get a bit cocky, every one of them. We’re having a night out, free bar, and then they’d come with all their mates – ‘you’re brining your mates,’ relax. ‘Are we getting medals,’ no you’re not getting a medal, relax. Then they’d be wearing their headphones as if they were players, coming off the bus and you’re thinking, just relax, oh my god. ‘Anyone selling their car?’ – they’d try and buy the players cars on the cheap, are you’re like lads relax.
The Corkman went on to hint at a former Boys in Green colleague who's bring his own rubdown man on Ireland duty and get a massage before international games.
“What happens to them [masseuses]," he continued, "they become mates with them [players], play golf with them and then they think they’re a coach, a manager, and best buddies with all the players and before you know it, they’re an agent, advising them.
“I couldn’t understand the lads who used to get massages right before the match. There was a lad, who when we used to go away with Ireland, he brought his own guy. I used to look at him before the match, a big game, and he’d having a proper massage like when you’re away with your wife on the weekend. I’m looking at him going, you cannot be ready to go to battle. By the time he got off the bench, he’d been getting a massage for 40-minutes, and he was all loose, baby oil everywhere. Stop doing the massages, useless. If you can’t get a massage before training, they think they can’t play properly. I’d get rid of all of them, honestly, all of them. Maybe keep one.
“Do you know what else they do? They hang around and get players boots. They end up having loads of boots and the lads’ trainers – scavengers in the dressing room. Get rid of all the masseurs, every one of them. You have managers going they’re really important. They are not important.”