“They see the game in the same way.”
Kelly Cates has explained why she believes Roy Keane and Graeme Souness can be quite critical of players when on punditry duty.
The Sky Sports presenter regularly works with the pair, and she believes that they share a similar outlook on football.
Cates said that Keane and Souness are very driven and cannot accept when modern players do not appear to match their attitude to the sport.
Kelly Cates explains why Roy Keane and Graeme Souness can be critical of players.
“I think Graeme and Roy are very similar,” Cates said about Keane and Souness on the Old Firm Facts podcast.
“They see the game in the same way. The same things make them roll their eyes, the same things annoy them and they enjoy the same sort of things about games as well.
“I think it just comes from being really driven. I think that, sometimes, a lot of the really harsh criticism that comes from both of them is frustration because they love the game so much.
“They appreciated their chance to play it at the highest level so much,” the Sky Sports presenter continued.
“It wouldn’t occur to them to turn up and not absolutely go flying into everything that they could do, and at times crossing the line when they did that.
“They find it just unfathomable that somebody would not have that same attitude. They just don’t understand it.”
Roy Keane & Graeme Souness.
It is no surprise that Keane and Souness take a similar approach to punditry and share similar views on the sport. The pair had comparable playing careers.
Souness was the best midfielder in England during the 1980s and captain of Liverpool during their most successful years.
The Scot was a tough-tackling, intelligent midfielder with an eye for a pass who excelled at the highest level of the sport for over a decade.
While Keane was the best midfielder in England in the 1990s and captain of Manchester United during their most successful years.
The Irishman was a tough-tackling, intelligent midfielder with an eye for a pass who excelled at the highest level of the sport for over a decade.
Both also had mixed records in management. Souness and Keane appeared to find it difficult to relate to players who were not as good at football, or determined, as they were as players.
It is no surprise that they share a similar outlook as pundits.
