sport news TIM HOWARD reveals the hidden genius of Roy Keane at Manchester United... and ... trends now

I was in my first or second year at Manchester United when Roy Keane got word that my family had gone back to the United States for a week. He invited me round for dinner with his wife Theresa and the kids.

I was a young, foreign player but he knew everything that was going on within the club. He knew my family had gone home. He knew I was on my own. No one sees that side of Roy – he is very much a gentleman in so many ways.

I didn't go in the end - I was too scared! I just remember thinking: I am so deathly afraid to sit across from Roy in his own house and have dinner. He was Manchester United at that time - and he was far more fearsome in person. But the sentiment was there.

Never a moment went by that Roy didn't feel contributed to a winning mentality: turning up on time, what you look like in your suit or tracksuit. Everything mattered. He was a master winner.

The special thing I took from Roy was that sometimes leaders slip - they say one thing and then do another. Roy was never, ever caught slipping.

It was incredible, impeccable leadership - even if I didn't love it at times because I was a young player and I was scared to death of him. But when you hold people to a higher standard - and you're able to maintain that - it's pretty special.

If one moment summed him up it was at Highbury in 2005. Arsenal vs Manchester United, the night Roy confronted Patrick Vieira in the tunnel.

What I can tell you from being in the dressing room? None of that was an act. There had been a coming together after warm-ups between Gary Neville and Patrick. And something was brewing. There was talk about it in the dressing room. But none it came from Roy.

So many people get caught up in the hooting and hollering in the dressing room – ‘I'm going to do this and that’. Roy never said boo. He just waited, he walked out and he said exactly what he needed to. That was it. That was Roy: he wasn't doing anything for the cameras or the show. He just did it.

Later in my career, we lived around the same village - I was at Everton, Roy was Ireland coach. He would come to see a couple of our Irish players and then we would have a cup of tea and just chat.

Roy is an incredibly well-read, intelligent and thoughtful man. But he is also not someone who is going to share that with just any and everybody. Not everyone gets that side of Roy Keane. You have to earn that side of him.

What I learned at a young age was that his expectations were incredibly high. But if you pushed yourself to that level, then you were able to understand him more. If you didn't take shortcuts, then he had respect for you.

Some people wonder if that style of leadership could work in today’s game. I believe it would. Why?

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