Sir Alex Ferguson almost always got his man and the Manchester United boss didn't mind stepping on a few toes to do so.
A master of the transfer window, the fiery Scot was able to pull his fair share of rabbits out of hats. Few, however, angered opposition managers as much as the signing of Roy Keane 30 years ago this summer.
Exactly one year after missing out on Alan Shearer to Blackburn Rovers - a rare failure - Ferguson set his sights on a young box-to-box midfielder at Nottingham Forest. Keane had only been at the City Ground for three years but with Brian Clough as manager and the likes of Stuart Pearce in the dressing room, he quickly developed into one of the most promising talents in English football.
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He was outstanding as Forest beat United 1-0 at Old Trafford in September of 1990, dominating the Reds midfield that included a certain Paul Ince. "We had to sign Roy Keane," Ferguson later recalled. "It was absolutely vital for the club's future."
Blackburn were the main competitors once again, flush from the riches of owner Jack Walker and looking to become the dominant force of the early Premier League era. Ferguson had not let the Shearer battle be forgotten.
Kenny Dalglish was in charge at Blackburn and, much like Ferguson, had identified Keane as his must-have summer signing. The pair met to discuss the terms of a contract, with a salary of £400,000 agreed upon, but with it being late on a Friday afternoon, Rovers' office staff had left for the weekend and so they agreed to complete the paperwork on Monday.
Enthused by his future at Ewood Park, Keane flew back to Cork for the weekend and celebrated like any 21-year-old who'd just secured £400,000-per-year might. However on Sunday morning, the phone rang. It was Ferguson.
Having read in the newspaper that Blackburn were in talks with the young midfielder, the Reds boss acted quickly and tracked down the home phone number in Cork. Keane was selective in admitting what had gone on with Dalglish, and so Ferguson invited him for a little chat.
"From that moment, I was never going to sign for any other club," he later admitted.
Keane went over to Ferguson's house and the pair played snooker, with the latter stepping up the charm offensive by detailing his plans to dominate English football. United won the first Premier League in 1992/1993 and were hungry for more.
And so one of the club's most influential players of the last 30 years had agreed to join, with United spending a then-British record £3.75million, although Dalglish was never going to be happy, and the Rovers boss got straight on the phone.
“I was lucky to have one or two options," Keane told The Overlap recently. "I did shake hands [with Dalglish] and I said: ‘Listen, I’ll come.’ I think the contract was basically agreed.
“I went back to Ireland and got a phone call from United. The mistake I made was saying I would sign. Obviously I have no regrets about signing for United.
“Everyone thinks Kenny is a really nice guy. He phoned me and obviously word got out that I wasn’t going to Blackburn.
“He said: ‘Listen, I’m not happy. You shook hands. I said 'sorry Kenny and blah, blah, blah. Listen I’m going on my holiday tomorrow'. I was going to Ayia Napa.
“I swear he said: ‘I’m going to find you over there.’ Honestly, for the next two weeks, I’m in Ayia Napa and every bar I’m in I’m looking over my shoulder. I’m thinking he’s going to come in and get me!”
Dalglish would go on to insist it was a 'bad move' joining United over Blackburn, but Keane's honours list with the Reds suggests otherwise. In 12 years at Old Trafford, he won seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League. In that same period, Rovers won one league title and one League Cup.
“I decided the time had come to leave Forest and going to a team that had just won the league, had a lot of momentum, a lot of good young players coming through, I was going to the club at the right time,” Keane said back in 2017.
“Winning the league after so many years was a relief to everyone at the club and you just knew there was success there for the next few years so long as everyone stayed fit, kept their heads and new players were brought in.
“The hunger was there. That’s what I found when I went to the club. Once they had got that first title, they were hungry, they were selfish and they wanted more and I wanted to be part of it.”
Keane would go on to take the captain's armband in 1997, leading his United side to the treble in 1999 and the many titles that followed. The no-nonsense midfielder would endure his fair share of controversy while in Manchester, ending his affiliation with the club in 2005 after a long and fiery feud with Ferguson.
His decision to join United back in 1993 can easily be seen as changing the course of his career and Ferguson's success, but for the legendary Reds manager, getting one over on old rival Dalglish would have felt just as sweet.
