Former Nottingham Forest academy graduate Yassine En-Neyah has revealed the impact that one-time Reds assistant manager Roy Keane had on his development with the club.
Keane returned to the City Ground in a coaching capacity mid-way through the 2018/19 season to work with then-manager Martin O'Neill for a short spell that ended less than five months later after the end of the campaign. He and O'Neill had previously worked together for five years managing the Republic of Ireland national team before leaving in November 2018.
While Keane was back at Forest, En-Neyah was playing for the Reds' under-23s team as well as training with the first team squad. The Morroco-born former Ireland youth international has now shared how his fellow Irishman kept a keen eye on the club's academy sides.
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“Roy Keane kind of guided me as well as a young kid coming up,” En-Neyah told Irish sports publication The42 . “I was actually surprised to say that he’s been really good to me. From my perspective, he was a completely different character than what you’d see on TV.
“I was comfortable talking to him. He was coming to watch our games all the time, even though he was in charge [as assistant manager] of the first team. When we had 23s games, he’d come over and watch. And obviously, when I went over to train with the first team, he would always be nice and give people good information. I never felt like I was intimidated or anything.”
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