Online Reporter
ALAN SHEARER revealed two of his pundit pals have tried to convince him Roy Keane is a “great guy”.
But the former England captain insists the pair simply didn’t like each other in their playing days.
Shearer conducted a Q&A with Dion Dublin at the Long Acre Tavern near New York’s Times Square on Wednesday evening.
And responding to a question from a relative of ex-Red Devils man Jonny Evans, Shearer insisted: “Me and Keane have never had the best relationship.
“I don’t know him.
“But what I would say, two of my best pals in football, Micah Richards and Ian Wright, both tell me he’s a great guy.
“I just went head-to-head with him on a pitch.
“He didn’t like me, I didn’t like him.
“But I don’t mind that. You’re not meant to like your opponents. You’re meant to go up against each other.”
Keane is working with Wright for ITV at the World Cup while Shearer and Richards are pundits for rivals BBC.
But the feuding duo were nearly team-mates at Manchester United.
The striker agreed to move from Blackburn to Old Trafford in 1996 and had even found a house in Manchester — before Kevin Keegan made a last-ditch appeal at Manchester Airport and convinced him to return home to Newcastle.
In the same summer, Shearer led the line for England at Euro 1996 — with a strike force that also included Les Ferdinand, Teddy Sheringham and Robbie Fowler while Wright and Andy Cole were left out entirely.
And Dublin reckons similar strength in depth would make a big difference in North America.
Dublin won the 1997-98 Premier League Golden Boot alongside Chris Sutton and Michael Owen but only the latter went to France ‘98.
The ex-Manchester United, Coventry and Aston Villa man commented: “I didn’t even make the World Cup in 1998 because there was Shearer, Sheringham, Wright, Ferdinand, Sutton, Cole, Owen, Fowler.
“If we had that now, we would win the World Cup.”
Shearer continued: “We’ve got Harry, we’ve got Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney in our squad. I don’t think that’s a great pool of centre forwards. — Sun
