Roy Keane in candid Celtic confession as he addresses the big 'fear' that never came after Hoops realisation

Roy Keane has made a candid confession on how his playing career at Celtic ended.

The Manchester United icon is now a popular pundit but his days on the pitch ended with a short spell in Glasgow that were blighted by injury problems. Talk of retirement was had on the Overlap this week as Seamus Coleman appeared on the show following his exit from Everton, looking to continue playing, aged 37 and turning 38 next month. The ex-Celtic and Man Utd admits fears of hanging up his boots didn’t happen at Parkhead amid his declining physical condition.

Keane said: “I was in a position where, again, when I was up at Celtic and I was 34, 35, I still had a year left in my contract, but physically I was struggling. But when I retired, well, you're on about that big decision, what are you going to do?

Roy Keane on retirement

“There's loads of options for the modern players, the platforms, if you want to go into coaching. But when I retired and I left, I got closure on my career, within 20 seconds. So this big fear thing going, what are you going to do? You go, there's loads going to happen.”

More insight to Keane’s time in Hoops emerged this week when former winger Aiden McGeady recalled how far everyone at Celtic went over copying Keane during his short stint. He said on Call Yourself a Fan: “I grew up idolising Roy Keane. He was an absolute legend. One thing that changed as soon as he came in is the standards.

“We had a strong group like Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon, Alan Thompson, boys who had been there for a while, but as soon as Roy came in it was almost like these grown men became little kids again. They went right into their shell, and Roy just demanded standards.

What was Roy Keane like at Celtic?

“Because it was Roy Keane, everybody just copied what Roy Keane done. When I was a young lad, the gym instructor and sports scientist would take me up to the gym and be like ‘Right, lads, we’re going to do dumbbells.’

“But Roy was obsessed with boxing, so as soon as Roy Keane came to the club, we all started having to do boxing, and I’m saying, ‘I’ve not done boxing for ten years mate!’ but they’d say, ‘Ah Roy does it, it’s great’. He did do mad stuff. When I went in the canteen, he was sitting there eating a bowl of lettuce on its own.

“To be fair, he was shredded, like he was in proper good nick, but I was like, ‘What are you doing mate? What are you doing?’ He responded with, ‘What’s the strongest animal in the world? “I was thinking polar bear maybe… but he said, ‘A gorilla. What do they eat? Leaves’. All I’m thinking is, ‘Yeah but we’ve not got the same genetics as gorillas, mate!’”

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