Former Manchester United star Wes Brown picked a shock name as his hardest team-mate, and did not mention Roy Keane. Instead of the fiery former captain, Brown, who also played for the likes of Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers, instead chose Keane's midfield partner, who was more known for his tidy passing than his temper.
Brown snubs Keane
For many, Keane was United’s ultimate hardman. A snarling, relentless leader, Keane embodied everything manager Sir Alex Ferguson wanted in a captain. When he took over the armband from Eric Cantona in 1997, United became an unstoppable force, none more so than during the club’s historic 1998–99 treble-winning season. Keane was the heartbeat of that side, the midfield general who drove standards, won tackles like they were personal battles, and never tolerated passengers. His confrontations, both on and off the pitch, became legendary. But even Keane’s iron rule came to an explosive end in 2005 when a fiery clash with Ferguson saw him booted out of Old Trafford. His career ended a year later at Celtic, but his hard-as-nails reputation and his willingness to rip into players as a pundit have lived on.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportBrown’s surprising confession about Butt
In a squad that boasted heavyweights like Jaap Stam, Nemanja Vidic, and of course, Keane himself, it’s a shock pick, but Brown insists there was something about Butt’s quiet menace that made him a force to be reckoned with. In an interview with speaking about the toughest characters he ever shared a dressing room with, Brown said: "Yeah, Nicky Butt was tough. You have Nemanja Vidic, he didn’t suffer fools. Jaap Stam was a tough bloke to deal with as well, and obviously you have Roy Keane who would be able to handle himself if there was a problem. There were a few characters in the squad who could be pretty strong in how they carried themselves, but they were top lads too. But the one I’d pick out is Nicky. He’s from Gorton, near me, and he was a lovely bloke. But if there was one bloke I’d not want to get on the wrong side of, especially if he was in the right, it was Nicky. He could definitely defend himself."
Keane vs Butt tussle in training
But behind the famous scowl, there’s another side to Keane, one that’s rarely seen, but unforgettable to those who’ve experienced it. Former United academy player Kevin Grogan shared a moment from his early days that showed Keane’s protective instincts when he picked up a fight with Butt to defend the underdog.
"The first day, I trained with the youths, the second with the reserves, the third day I was with the first team,” Grogan reminisced to the
“At the start of training, you'd do a bit of keep ball. We were doing one touch, piggy in the middle. I just remember Nicky Butt absolutely pinging the ball at me. It was impossible for me to control it with one touch. It bounced off me. I went to go into the middle to grab the bib. Roy Keane stepped in and said to Nicky Butt, 'Don't ever do that to him again'."
Keane then turned to the nervous youngster and said: “Do not take that bib.” It was a small act, but to Grogan, it meant everything. “It was nice to have someone like that having your back,” he said.
Getty Images SportThe glory days feel a long way off now
Fast forward to 2025, and Manchester United’s current predicament couldn’t feel further removed from those glory years. The club sits 10th in the Premier League, a world away from the title-chasing force that Butt, Keane, and Brown once helped build. After a dire September that saw United drop as low as 14th, manager Ruben Amorim has faced relentless pressure. Calls for change grew louder by the week, until a thumping win over Sunderland before the international break offered a brief reprieve. Now, the test gets even tougher. Next up is Liverpool, a clash that could define Amorim’s fate at Old Trafford. Lose that, and the pressure could reach breaking point.
