Roy Keane has a heart of gold – Ange Postecoglou has known that for 25 years

Roy Keane might play up to his reputation as something of a hard-nosed ogre, but behind that facade he’s really just a big softie.

You’ll find evidence of that from a brilliant anecdote that Ange Postecoglou has just told in his latest appearance on The Overlap‘s Stick To Football podcast – dating to the pomp of Keane’s playing days a quarter of a century ago.

As a young and up-and-coming coach in charge of South Melbourne, where he’d spent almost his entire playing career in the 80s and early 90s, Postecoglou pitted his wits against Sir Alex Ferguson and his era-defining, treble-winning Manchester United side at the Club World Championship in 2000.

It was a memorable tournament for a club of reasons. Last summer’s Club World Cup wasn’t the first time that FIFA had attempted an ambitious, shiny new intercontinental tournament.

The reigning European champions were put into an eight-team tournament alongside Real Madrid and the best sides from North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

While it had appeared set for a blockbuster clash between Manchester United and Real Madrid in the final, neither side made it out of their respective groups and we instead got an all-Brazilian affair between Corinthians and Vasco da Gama.

Things started inconspicuously for Ferguson’s United, who played three games in six days at the iconic Maracana stadium.

They required a late equaliser from Dwight Yorke to draw against lesser-known Mexican outfit Necaxa in the opener and subsequently lost 3-1 to an Edmundo & Romario-inspired Vasco da Gama.

Postecoglou’s South Melbourne had also lost their first two outings, ensuring that their meeting with Manchester United was effectively a dead rubber.

The Australians only had pride to play for, while United could’ve squeaked through to a fairly meaningless third-fourth place play-off against Real Madrid if they’d racked up enough goals.

Still, the match was a dream opportunity for South Melbourne’s relative minnows to play against icons of the era.

As it was, Ferguson selected a largely second-string XI – a midfield four of Jonathan Greening, Ronnie Wallwork, Mark Wilson, Jordi Cruyff, anyone? – but Andy Cole and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer started the match and David Beckham was brought on for the final 15 minutes.

An early Quinton Fortune double saw Manchester United see out a routine 2-0 victory over Postecoglou’s men, but the mood in United’s camp was miserable.

They’d failed to finish as group runners-up and would be going home early, the English tabloids delighted after their – in hindsight, hilariously overwrought – vilification for them opting out of the FA Cup in order to take part.

The (unnamed) players evidently weren’t in a charitable mood, but the club captain sorted them out.

Ange Postecoglou tells a story about Roy Keane when his side played Man United 26 years ago…

A class act 🙌❤️

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— george (@StokeyyG2) February 19, 2026

“I’ll tell you a story about Roy,” reminisced Postecoglou.

“After the game, our guys just were desperate for shirts. Our little number seven literally man-marked Becks for the last 15 minutes, even though he was totally out of position just to make sure, at the full-time whistle…”

“Not me or Nev,” joked Keane, forgetting that himself and fellow Stick To Football regular Gary Neville didn’t actually play in that game.

“And then after the game, a couple of our guys, drug control got them, so they missed out,” Ange continued.

“So then they’ve gone into the rooms after, and… They’ve gone through the man, your room, and they said to a couple of the guys – I won’t mention who – ‘can we have some shirts?’ And they said no.

“And Roy grabbed them and said, give him your shirt, will you? Mate, they couldn’t speak higher of Roy. Seriously.

“I’ll tell you, the impression that made on our players, my players, right, they said you wouldn’t believe it.”

Keane himself looks sheepish while Postecoglou tells the story. Somewhere between proud and embarrassed, like Nelson Muntz whenever his softer side is revealed on ‘The Simpsons’.

That day, Keane gave Postecoglou’s players something far more meaningful than fabric alone.

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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every single team that Ange Postecoglou has managed?