Sir Alex Ferguson names "best captain" at Man Utd as Roy Keane brutally snubbed
When asked to name who his best captain was at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson snubbed both Eric Cantona and Roy Keane.
Instead, he opted for Bryan Robson, who he claimed was "easily the best captain" of his illustrious 26-year reign as Red Devils boss. The Scotsman was appointed as manager in November of 1986, at a time when Robson was already the skipper of the side having been handed the armband by Ron Atkinson four years prior.
Following Ferguson's arrival, Robson would continue to captain United for another eight years, in which time he added a further two league titles to his trophy cabinet in 1992 and 1993. He would call time on his United career a year later, and though names like Steve Bruce, Cantona, Keane and Gary Neville would don the armband in the years that followed, Ferguson is adamant Robson was the best.
"He was easily the best captain I had. I think over the period he was at United, he was the best player," Ferguson said of Robson during an event to promote a new film about the latter back in 2021.
"The players loved him. They responded to him and he was the longest-serving captain in my time anyway. It’s difficult for a captain because sometimes he has to tell the truth to players, you know? The encouragement he’s got to give them sometimes can be quite volatile and he was like that, but the players did love him.
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"They appreciated the time he took on them and another thing, he’s the only captain I knew who could make a decision on the pitch. He didn’t need to look over to me. He would do that and that’s unusual. In fact it’s very unusual because he had the balls to do that."
Ferguson and Robson enjoyed a stellar relationship during their shared time at Old Trafford, but that does not mean the latter was able to avoid the infamous 'hairdryer' treatment. Recalling once incident where the ex-United boss lost his cool with his captain, Robson explained: "We were playing up at Newcastle and it was going badly, we were losing 1-0 and Gazza [Paul Gascoigne] was running us ragged.
HAVE YOUR SAY!Who was Ferguson's best captain at United? Comment below
Sir Alex Ferguson once named Bryan Robson as his best Man Utd captain“We didn’t really know much about Gazza back then, but we certainly found out quickly when he was having such a good game against us. I could see what was coming at half-time, so I thought it best to get in first.
"I said, ‘Yeah, we didn’t know much about him — I will try to get it sorted in the second half’. Fergie screamed at me, ‘Get it sorted!’ — so I got it sorted in the second half."
Keane can perhaps consider himself unlucky to miss out on the title of Ferguson's best captain, considering the Irishman is the most decorated skipper in the club's history. While leading the side, Keane won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups, two community shields, one Champions League and one intercontinental cup.
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