IAN HARTE picked four former Ireland team-mates and a former international manager in the best XI he has played with on Sky Sports’ Fantasy Football Club this morning.
He considers Mick McCarthy to be the best boss he has had in football and unsurprisingly went for Roy Keane to captain the side from the centre of the park.
When questioned on Keane, he admitted he was a bit afraid of him and a discussion with the Irish legend in a bar after an international game summed up their relationship nicely.
“Were you scared of Keane?” he was asked by host Max Rushden.
“Yeah, of course. I’ve got a good story about him actually.
“We were playing against Manchester United on the Saturday. But we were away on international duty that week.
“So we had a few drinks and went back to the hotel bar and Roy was in there so I said: ‘Roy, do you want a drink?’ And he said ‘nah, I’m fine … Hartey, when we play you at the weekend I’m going to smash you.’”
“So I said to the barman, ‘you can cancel that drink, I’m off!’”.
“We played against Holland at Lansdowne Road and Roy smashed into Marc Overmars after about two minutes and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the lads.
“Thankfully we went on to win that game 1-0.”
Some of Ireland’s biggest names over the past 15 years missed out on Harte’s XI including Shay Given, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne.
There was special mention for uncle Gary Kelly at right-back with Robbie Keane and Denis Irwin making up the rest of the Irish contingent.
Jonathan Woodgate and Rio Ferdinand formed an impressive central defence ahead of Nigel Martyn in goal, who beat off stiff competition from the likes of Given and Paul Robinson.
The centre of midfield would have made their presence felt with Keane joined by Frenchman Olivier Dacourt. Leeds stalwarts Lee Bowyer and Harry Kewell claimed the spots on the flanks ahead of the likes of Duff.
And up top Harte went for Kewell’s Aussie compatriot Mark Viduka alongside Ireland’s record goalscorer Robbie Keane, snubbing the likes of Tony Yeboah and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
What do you make of his team?