Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) is one of the most fan-favorite characters onTed Lasso, but would fans love his real-life counterpart,Roy Keane, equally? Yes, the AFC Richmond legend is, in fact, based on an actual footballer, as the Apple TV+ hit series is always borrowing from real life to build its own version of the footy world.Kent and Keane have a lot in common, from their harsh demeanor to their excellence on the pitch, and are both widely regarded as legends in their own right. Both of them also became coaches and TV pundits after retiring from the pitches, but the similarities go way beyond, though.
HowTed Lassoadapts people and elements of real-world footy without making them seem like a cheap knock-off is one of the best things for fans of the beautiful game. There’s Roy Keane, sure, but the series has done it multiple times, withZava (Maximilian Osinski) being based onZlatan Ibrahimović, Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernández) andJavier “Chicharito” Hernández. In fact, even AFC Richmond itself is mirrored off Crystal Palace, with its home turf of Nelson Road being the real-life home of the Eagles, both teams sporting the same colors, too.
American college football coach Ted Lasso heads to London to manage AFC Richmond, a struggling English Premier League soccer team.
Roy Keane Played For Manchester United During a Peak for the Team
We all know Roy Kent’s iconic chant: “He’s here, he’s there, he’s every-f*cking-where!” We only saw him play inTed Lassofor less than a whole season, but it was enough to give us a good idea of his style on the pitch. Roy was restless, even when his career was already moving toward its end, andplayed every match like it was his last. Some people may even describe his style as brutish, but he did get the job done, and this made him a beloved player everywhere he went.
In this sense, Roy Keane was pretty much the same. He played most of his career for Manchester United, as part of theirlegendary team that basically dominated English football from the mid-90s to the mid-2000s. Whatever tournament they were in, you could expect them to do a lot of damage, if not straight-up win the whole thing. They were alsofamous for the Class of ‘92, a group of players formed by the club itself that would grow up to define a generation in England:David Beckham,Ryan Giggs,Paul Scholes,Gary Neville,Phil Neville, andNicky Butt. They were all managed by another legend,Sir Alex Ferguson, one of the greatest minds to ever coach a club. Their greatest achievement was winning the UEFA Champions League in 1999, later going on to win the Club World Cup over Brazilian side Palmeiras (who also had a great team attempting to win their first official trophy of the tournament, but were denied by United; they still have no Club World Cup of their own).
Keane wasn’t part of the Class of ‘92, but that whole team played with the same spirit. An Irishman, he began his career playing for modest clubs, making his debut in England for the traditional team Nottingham Forest, then joining Manchester United in 1993. He fit like a glove on Ferguson’s team and dominated the pitch. He was the first man on United’s defensive system while still playing midfield, a style called by many “box-to-box,” as he could be seen almost everywhere from their defensive area to the offensive one. This also meanthe was rarely the player to actually score goals, but that never mattered to him, nor the fans. Having Keane on the team was never about securing a win through scoring goals, but not conceding them, and it always played out perfectly.He eventually left Manchester United in 2005, moving to another traditional team, the Scottish side Celtic, where he remained for six months until retiring as a professional player due to medical reasons. He still won two trophies, though.
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She also talks about crafting the line-up of songs for her holiday special ‘Home for Christmas,’ which features her ‘Ted Lasso’ co-stars.
‘Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent Is Just As Tough on the Pitch As Roy Keane Was
Although “tough” may seem like an overstatement for both of them. We knowRoy Kentfor his temper both on and off the pitch, and his real-life counterpart was just like him. As good a player as he was,Roy Keane was widely regarded as a difficult man to have on any squad. He was fiercely loyal to his teammates, which granted him the captain’s armband both on Manchester United and Ireland, but he frequently had clashes with both managers and coaches. A heated argument with Ferguson was the reason he ultimately left Manchester United in 2005. Another famous story is when he left the Irish National Team just days before their debut in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. Playing a World Cup is the dream most footballers have at the beginning of their careers, andKeane waved it off after a fight with coachMick McCarthyabout the condition of the training facilities.
On the pitch, both Roys often displayed their temper, too. Roy Kent isthe only player in history to be shown two red cardsin a freakish foul against Manchester City. The whole thing seems directly based on Roy Keane’s similar skirmish withAlfie Haaland— father of current world top football playerErling Haaland, both from Man City, too. After a whole match full of provocationsbetween Haaland and Keane,the latter finally committed a knee-high foul that he later admitted to being intentionaljust minutes away from the end of the match — just like Roy Kent, who was caught by cameras yelling that his own incident “was no accident.”
After the end of his career,Roy Keane kept his fame for speaking his mind as he became a pundit for Sky Sports. InTed Lasso, Kent did the same, but couldn’t stand the job and ultimately left TV to be assistant coach toTed (Jason Sudeikis)back in AFC Richmond. Keane also had a stint as an assistant coach but seems to be more comfortable as a commentator, where he gets to work with many former players that either played with him or against him, like former United teammate Gary Neville.
Recently, Roy Keane even joked about his similarities with Roy Kent when showed a clip of the character, sayinghe’s “a lot nicer” than Kent. Brett Goldstein himself plays on this, too, sayinghe never got to chat with Keane about the character, but that, “Maybe everyone’s a bit Roy Kent. He’s complicated because he gets in his own way, and he’s sort of a tragic figure, but he also calls bullshit on most things. I guess that’s the thing.” And it sure is, because that’s what made both Roys so loved — and feared — in the sport.
Ted Lassois available to stream on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
Watch on Apple TV+
