Roy Keane made Sky Sports colleague nervous as 'disarming' meeting revealed

presenter David Jones has revealed that 'completely disarmed' him when they first crossed paths in the studio. The former skipper is known for his combative personality and is rarely afraid to say what he really thinks. He often creates TV gold as a pundit and has come up with no shortage of iconic quotes over the years.

Jones was initially nervous about working with Keane, given his reputation as a bullish character when it comes to dealing with the media. However, their first meeting in the Sky Sports studio took him by complete surprise, with Keane showing a very different side to himself.

Speaking to Georgie Ainslie on the podcast, Jones said: "Roy was a tricky one for me because I thought he and Thierry Henry were the best players for me in the Premier League era.

"Then he went on to manage my team, Sunderland, and had been hugely successful, just with his aura and personality. So when he became a colleague, I definitely went to work that day. I remember it was at Anfield.

"Liverpool were playing Manchester United and it was the first time I was working with Roy. I was sitting in the studio, probably an hour and a half before we went on air, by myself. The camera guys had gone out to get something to eat.

"I was just trying to collect my thoughts in those quiet moments. [There were] footsteps and this really cheery voice: 'How you doing?'. It was Roy. Before that, I had never met Roy in a social situation, it was always in a work situation."

Jones explained that he had a preconceived idea of what Keane would be like, suggesting the Irishman realised that he would be nervous and wanted to break the ice.

"I think he had a certain view of journalists, he liked to keep them at arm's length," added Jones. "I interviewed him many times but had never been on the same side of him. He completely disarmed me. Maybe he sensed that I was nervous.

"He was probably coming up to the studio anyway and looking for the others, bouncing off Gary Neville and Jamie [Carragher] and Graeme Souness and those guys. He completely disarmed me because he was so charming.

"He was so completely against the stereotypes that you see, hear and read about. In those minutes all of my nerves were banished. It did take me several weeks, probably months, to realise there was a different Roy when the light came on.

"We'd be having a joke in the break and I'd still have the view that Roy was in a jokey mood, go to him on air and he'd be staring at me with an absolute death stare. I have to say, I do love working with Roy."