Post by Scott on Jun 12, 2006 16:19:56 GMT
From Sky Sports:
"I am little bit surprised," Pallister said. "With him being up at Celtic I thought he would give it another year, but Roy knows his body. He has suffered a lot of injuries throughout the years, mainly to his cruciate and there is this long-standing hip problem he has got.
"I am sure he has taken proper advice and they might have warned him that he would end up in a wheelchair if he had carried on, so he has taken the best decision for himself and his family.
"He was excited by going up to Celtic and it was one of his boyhood dreams. He wanted to play for United and he wanted to play for Celtic and he has achieved that. I am sure he wanted to give the fans more up there but, once you have had a cruciate ligament injury, you tend to suffer for the rest of your career and that causes other kinds of imbalances and problems with your body."
Keane left Old Trafford in December 2005, after falling out with manager Sir Alex Ferguson, before joining Celtic who went on to win the Scottish Premier League. But Pallister says despite his late and acrimonious departure from the club, he will be remembered as one of Manchester United's greatest players.
"As everybody has seen for themselves, he was a fantastic player, a leader, an inspiration," Pallister told Sky Sports News.
"When things were going tough, he was the one that the players and the fans looked to spark things into life; never more so than in the European Cup [in 1999] when he scored that header that inspired them on to win the trophy. Unfortunately he missed out on the final itself and that is probably one of his biggest regrets. The fans and the players alike will remember him for the sort of combative player that he was on the pitch.
"He always spoke his mind, that might have caused the ructions with Sir Alex at the end, but he set his own standards and he wanted players to follow those standards on the football pitch. If people fell below them, he was there to give them a rocket - and he did on several occasions.
"He had a go at the fans and the prawn sandwich brigade - it was the just the type of guy he was, he said how he felt it. He didn't shirk behind anything and time again that got him into trouble but that was the type of guy that he was.
"Without a shadow of a doubt, he was one of the all-time great Manchester United players. I said he is the closest thing to Bryan Robson that I had ever seen and you would probably have to put him on a par now - they were both terrific players for United. If you wanted to go into a battle, they were the type of people you wanted alongside you.
"He made the game look so easy. The energy levels he had, even after his cruciate injury, he still inspired his team-mates. He will be a loss to football but if he is suffering as much as he says he is, then he has made the right decision."
Keane may now turn to coaching although Pallister said he thinks he would be a hard task-master.
"When I played alongside him I never thought he had the interest to go in to coaching but over the last few years he has been taking his coaching course so it is obviously something he has thought about," he said.
"He would be a difficult man to work for, I would imagine, as I have already said that he sets such high standards. A guy like Roy would probably have to go straight into The Premiership."
"I am little bit surprised," Pallister said. "With him being up at Celtic I thought he would give it another year, but Roy knows his body. He has suffered a lot of injuries throughout the years, mainly to his cruciate and there is this long-standing hip problem he has got.
"I am sure he has taken proper advice and they might have warned him that he would end up in a wheelchair if he had carried on, so he has taken the best decision for himself and his family.
"He was excited by going up to Celtic and it was one of his boyhood dreams. He wanted to play for United and he wanted to play for Celtic and he has achieved that. I am sure he wanted to give the fans more up there but, once you have had a cruciate ligament injury, you tend to suffer for the rest of your career and that causes other kinds of imbalances and problems with your body."
Keane left Old Trafford in December 2005, after falling out with manager Sir Alex Ferguson, before joining Celtic who went on to win the Scottish Premier League. But Pallister says despite his late and acrimonious departure from the club, he will be remembered as one of Manchester United's greatest players.
"As everybody has seen for themselves, he was a fantastic player, a leader, an inspiration," Pallister told Sky Sports News.
"When things were going tough, he was the one that the players and the fans looked to spark things into life; never more so than in the European Cup [in 1999] when he scored that header that inspired them on to win the trophy. Unfortunately he missed out on the final itself and that is probably one of his biggest regrets. The fans and the players alike will remember him for the sort of combative player that he was on the pitch.
"He always spoke his mind, that might have caused the ructions with Sir Alex at the end, but he set his own standards and he wanted players to follow those standards on the football pitch. If people fell below them, he was there to give them a rocket - and he did on several occasions.
"He had a go at the fans and the prawn sandwich brigade - it was the just the type of guy he was, he said how he felt it. He didn't shirk behind anything and time again that got him into trouble but that was the type of guy that he was.
"Without a shadow of a doubt, he was one of the all-time great Manchester United players. I said he is the closest thing to Bryan Robson that I had ever seen and you would probably have to put him on a par now - they were both terrific players for United. If you wanted to go into a battle, they were the type of people you wanted alongside you.
"He made the game look so easy. The energy levels he had, even after his cruciate injury, he still inspired his team-mates. He will be a loss to football but if he is suffering as much as he says he is, then he has made the right decision."
Keane may now turn to coaching although Pallister said he thinks he would be a hard task-master.
"When I played alongside him I never thought he had the interest to go in to coaching but over the last few years he has been taking his coaching course so it is obviously something he has thought about," he said.
"He would be a difficult man to work for, I would imagine, as I have already said that he sets such high standards. A guy like Roy would probably have to go straight into The Premiership."
