Roy Keane has revealed that he broke an all-important rule that Sir Alex Ferguson had in place during his legendary playing career at Manchester United.
The 52-year-old Manchester United legend became club captain in 1997 after Eric Cantona announced his sudden retirement from football.
Keane, who United signed from Nottingham Forest in 1993, created a long-lasting legacy at Old Trafford as Red Devils captain and excelled in a leadership role.
The Irishman became a locker-room leader under Sir Alex Ferguson and was widely admired for his incredible ability as a box-to-box midfielder.
Keane was a key part of Ferguson’s success at Old Trafford during the 1990s and early 2000s, including captaining United to an iconic treble win in 1999.
The Sky Sports pundit is widely regarded as one of the best captains of all time after his impact at United, with Keane lifting seven Premier League titles at the club.
Keane’s illustrious spell as a player and captain at United came to an end in 2005 after his falling out with legendary former Red Devils manager Ferguson.
Keane breaks Ferguson rule at Man Utd
Speaking on the Stick to Football show, Roy Keane opened up about his time at Manchester United and his spell with the Republic of Ireland national team.
The 52-year-old Irish hardman, who retired from football in 2006 after a brief spell with Celtic, revealed that he ‘loved’ sneaking out with the team for a night out.
Sir Alex Ferguson was known to take a hard-line stance with what his players did off the pitch and kept a watchful eye on their lives when it came to a night out.
“Did you ever sneak out with the team? I used to love that,” Keane said on The Overlap.
“We’ve done it with United and we done it with Ireland. You are going back on the bus and you are at an official function. You ask if anyone is sneaking out.
“So, about 10 players go, yeah, yeah. So, you say we’ll meet in 10 minutes by a certain lift and then only two or three turn up! I used to love all that stuff.
“We done it one night in Ireland. I think we were doing something at the Irish Embassy. It might have been before the 1994 World Cup.
“Back to the hotel and a few of us snuck out, the Irish lads. I think we ended up in Stringfellows. What night we had. Brilliant night.”
Ferguson’s watchful eye on Man Utd players
Rio Ferdinand previously opened up about the culture at Old Trafford under Ferguson and how the ex-United manager would know everything his players did.
“The problem is in Manchester – it’s smaller than London – he wouldn’t have to call anyone,” he told The Jonathan Ross Show in 2014.
“Everyone would call him [Ferguson] because they want to be his mate… He knew everything; it was like the Mafia.”
United legend Mark Hughes echoed similar sentiments to Rio Ferdinand and revealed how Ferguson “knew every bouncer” at the nightclubs in Manchester.
“You know very quickly if someone has been out, there are very few secrets in the world,” he told The Daily Mail in 2016.
“With Fergie, he knew every bouncer of every nightclub in Manchester. That’s where he got his information from!
“It wasn’t a bad tactic in those days because a lot of the lads were bouncing [around] nightclubs thinking they were getting away with it.”