Roy Keane Once Took Man Utd Out For A Game WITHOUT The Referee's Permission - It's Elite Mentality

Roy Keane once took his Manchester United teammates out for a game without the permission of the referee - with every single player following his lead.

Keane is regarded as one of the Premier League's greatest captains and his leadership qualities were unmatched.

The Irishman was basically manager Sir Alex Ferguson on the pitch and commanded respect from every United star.

During a game against Wolves in 2004, Keane appeared to take his side out to the Molineux turf of his own accord.

The scores were 0-0 at half-time and United were desperate to get the action going again and take the lead.

Keane can be seen followed by goalkeeper Tim Howard and Ruud van Nistelrooy as the assistant referee asks what is going on.

Wolves captain and former Red Devil Paul Ince then attempted to do the same thing and was prevented from doing so.

You just don't see leadership like this nowadays. What a player with a no-nonsense attitude.

United did end up losing the game 1-0 in a shock result and you can imagine Keane wasn't best pleased at full-time.

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Fans have reacted to the clip and they think it's the perfect example of what a captain should be.

One fan commented: "The squad followed him unquestionably, that's every captain's dream."

Another said: "After seeing Roy's leadership, Paul Ince nearly wanted to follow Roy out to the pitch without a jersey."

A third added: "The players are more scared of Keano than the ref. Obviously!"

While someone else put: "Love it that the ref admits defeat too because its Keano."

Keane spent 12 years at United and won seven Premier League titles as well as the Champions League in 1999.

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It was a performance in that Champions League winning campaign, against Juventus in the semi-finals, that established him as a true great.

With the tie evenly balanced at 1-1, United headed to Turin to face a team that included the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids and Didier Deschamps.

Despite picking up a yellow card that would rule him out of the final, Keane selflessly persevered as United came from behind to win 3-2.

Former teammate Gary Neville recently named Keane as the Premier League's greatest captain having played with him for over a decade.

Topics: Wolverhampton Wanderers, Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Roy Keane

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

@DanMarland_