Roy Keane was in typically combative mood on the eve of the World Cup on Wednesday night, saying Ghana manager Carlos Queiroz has ‘the personality of a dead fish.’
Keane knows the Portuguese manager from their time working together at Manchester United, where he coached under Alex Ferguson.
The 73-year-old has had a globe-trotting managerial career, before, after and between his two stints as a coach at Old Trafford.
Queiroz manager Portugal as long ago as 1991, also taking national team jobs as varied as South Africa to Iran and Colombia to his current role with Ghana.
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Keane actually has a lot of respect for the well-travelled veteran as a coach, but less so as someone he might want to go to the pub with.
Speaking on ITV of Ghana, who face England at the World Cup next week, Keane said: ‘I just hope they don’t become too defensive because Carlos Queiroz has gone in there and one of Carlos’ biggest strengths is the defensive side of the game.
‘Brilliant coach, huge question marks about him as a manager. Certainly, I thought he had the personality of a dead fish when I worked with him.
‘But as a coach, very good sessions. Now that he’s managing, there’s huge question marks over him. Whether he’s too defensive, that might backfire on him.’
On a CV featuring a range of national jobs, Queiroz also took charge of Real Madrid in 2003.
The Spanish giants snapped him up from his job as a coach at Manchester United, but after a short stint at the Bernabeu he returned to Old Trafford.
Keane has spoken in the past about falling out with the Portuguese in this second stint, memorably saying he regretted not ‘ripping his head off’ after a disagreement.
‘Excellent coach. Probably quite defence-minded,’ Keane said in 2021. ‘I always felt we had a decent relationship, particularly in his first spell at the club.
‘His second spell when he came back, for some reason towards the end of my time there, I found him really disrespectful towards me. So we had a bit of a fall out. He questioned my loyalty so I told him where to go.
‘One of my big regrets was I probably should have ripped his head off. But excellent coach.’
Explaining why he was so annoyed, Keane pointed out that he did not see someone who had left for another club and returned to Manchester United as someone who should be commenting on loyalty.
‘That was my point, when he was brave enough to throw that at me,’ said Keane. ‘Considering he’d left to go to Real Madrid and was back within 10 months with his tail between his legs.
‘But take nothing away, really good coach and I did enjoy working under him.’
Queiroz only took charge of Ghana in April this year after previous manager Otto Addo was sacked in March.
Qualification for the World Cup had long been secured but after friendly defeats to Germany and Austria, Addo was dismissed.
The new manager has had just two matches in charge, a 2-0 defeat to Mexico and a 1-1 draw with Wales in friendlies.