If you were to judge Ally McCoist and Roy Keane solely on the pair’s broadcasting output, you’d see two entirely contrasting personalities. Whereas McCoist brings an infectious enthusiasm and a never-waning passion to the game to his co-commentator duties, Keane the pundit resembles Keane the player – uncompromising, no-nonsense and with a refusal to suffer fools of any kind.
Variety is the spice of life, however, as the pair have both brought something different to ITV’s coverage of Euro 2024. Former Rangers and Scotland striker McCoist has been discussing the ITV team’s chemistry and relationship that the team of presenters, commentators and pundits have off-screen, with a telling contribution from Keane.
Former Rangers and Scotland striker McCoist has been discussing the ITV team’s chemistry and relationship that the team of presenters, commentators and pundits have off-screen, with a telling contribution from Keane.
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“The boys are magic,” McCoist said speaking to BoyleSports, who offer the latest Euro 2024 betting. “The only regret is that I don’t see enough of them because they’re up in Berlin, sipping their cafe lattes and all that stuff.
“I’m travelling from Stuttgart up to Cologne, up to Gelsenkirchen on trains. They’re sitting up there having their cocktails after the show and all that stuff and I’m at the coalface and on the trains. But the craic is brilliant.
“I’ve got to say I think we’ve got a good squad. I love Graham Souness and Roy Keane having a wee go at each other and Ian Wright and Gary Neville and the boys.”
“Obviously, you know what I think of Mark Pougatch and indeed Laura Woods. I love Woodsy. So I must admit we’ve got a great wee family team. We’re always in touch.
“We’ve got a couple of WhatsApp groups passing on all the information and just having a couple of stories and things like that. So we’re pretty tight, as you can imagine.”
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And it’s in that WhatsApp group where Keane lives up to his reputation. “Funnily enough, I haven’t had much correspondence with Roy Keane in this particular WhatsApp group, but you know something, I’m not overly surprised at that to be quite frank with you,” McCoist adds.
“He’s doing all that he’s doing. You know Roy, he’s monitoring everything. I don’t get too many blue ticks from Roy!”