Former Premier League striker lifts the lid on Roy Keane the manager and how Man United legend told players ‘you’re going to be working in McDonald’s’ and telling them ‘I just don’t like you’
Former Premier League striker Kevin Lisbie has lifted the lid on his experiences playing under Roy Keane while at Ipswich Town.
The Jamaican international striker played 113 times in the Premier League, scoring 14 goals and providing five assists, most famously featuring for Charlton Athletic in the English top-flight.
As well as the Addicks, Lisbie also had stints with Derby, Colchester and Ipswich Town, where he teamed up with Manchester United legend Keane.
Keane, known as a hard-tackling, no-nonsense midfielder who demanded the highest standards from his team-mates, had a brief managerial career of 181 games at Sunderland and Ipswich, before transitioning into media work.
However, despite having two solid spells, he did not have quite the same level of success he managed while in his playing days.
In a recent podcast, Lisbie has revealed what life under Keane was like, though he admitted that his brief spell under the Premier League legend was not exactly the most enjoyable of his career.
Kevin Lisbie played two games under Roy Keane while the latter was Ipswich Town manager
The former Premier League striker came through the ranks at Charlton Athletic before joining Colchester in 2007
Lisbie claimed that after a pre-season defeat Keane spent ’40 minutes just hammering players’
‘I’d say that was the worst time, but I forgot about Roy! I totally forgot about that, I tried to delete that from my memory,’ Lisbie told the Undr The Cosh podcast.
‘We had a pre-season tour in Ireland, we lost 2-1, and he spent 40 minutes just hammering players [individually].
‘”You’re going to be working in McDonald’s in a couple of weeks… I heard we turned down a £1million bid for you and I would’ve snapped their hand off for it now…”
‘I’d actually scored on that day so I was sitting with a smile thinking he’s got nothing to say about me, he’s going to compliment me, but he just walked up to me and said: “And I just don’t like you. I just don’t like your body language and I just don’t like nothing about you. Yeah, yeah, you suck your teeth at me, you’ll never play for me again”
‘We went back, and I never played for him again, so at least he was a man of his word! Literally that was it, and he just said: “Try and find a club”.’
Lisbie only played twice under Keane at Ipswich, both wins at the end of the 2008-09 campaign.
Keane had taken over late in the season after Jim Magilton was sacked in April, before Lisbie went out on a succession of loan spells, first at former club Colchester United, and latterly at Leyton Orient.
At 29 when Keane first took charge of the Tractor Boys, Lisbie was one of the more senior players in the dressing-room, though he then went on to suggest that the former Republic of Ireland star preferred younger players.
Keane spent almost two years in charge of the Tractor Boys before departing in January 2011
Jamaican international Lisbie later joined Leyton Orient where he was on the books for four years
‘I don’t think he was too interested in having senior pros, I think he much preferred to have the younger generation that he could mold. I don’t know if it’s an insecurity.
‘Ben Thatcher was there at the time, he tried to get Ben out but he was retiring that year. Roy said to him he might as well leave but Ben wanted to stay.
‘He got him in at 6am everyday and he lived about two hours away. I remember when he told him he had to come in over Christmas. As we were walking out, there was a helicopter over our training ground.
‘It lands on the ground, and Ben Thatcher runs out in his boots! And Roy Keane was just like [shaking his head].’
Keane would remain in charge of Ipswich until January of 2011, finishing 15th in 2009-10 in what was his first full season at the club.
Lisbie meanwhile went on to play for the likes of Stevenage, Barnet, Whitehawk, Cray Valley and VCD Athletic in 2022 before retiring and moving into coaching.
