Few friendships in English football feel as surprising as the one that has developed between Ian Wright and Roy Keane. For much of the 1990s, the two men were bitter adversaries — Wright carrying the Arsenal banner and Keane anchoring the Manchester United engine room through one of the Premier League's most fiercely contested title eras.

Wright has now opened up about how that relationship transformed from on-pitch hostility into a genuine off-pitch bond, largely through their shared work on The Overlap alongside Gary Neville.

From rivals to real friends

Wright credits Neville with setting the whole thing in motion. "I remember when Gary first got in touch and said who he was going to get involved," Wright told FourFourTwo. "I said, 'If you could get that crew together, that'd be brilliant'."

From their first meeting, Wright says the dynamic felt effortless. "The way we speak on camera is the way we are with each other off camera, too. I'm with people I genuinely like, and we've got a friendship and a bond now that is real."

He is also clear that the group holds each other to account. "Nobody is afraid to pull anyone else up if they get something wrong or say something we don't agree with — but it's everyone's love for the game that really comes across."

The pitch was a different place

Wright is candid about just how combustible things were during their playing days. "Mine and Roy's relationship on the pitch was fractious," he admits. "If I came in his vicinity, it was never going to be nice."

He puts that tension firmly in context, though. "That was because of the teams we were playing for and what was expected of us, especially trying to deal with that Man United side. It was so dominant and so great."

The idea that they would one day share a studio as close friends seemed unthinkable at the time. "If you'd said to me back then that we would be friends now, would I have believed it? No, never. I never would have thought we'd be this close."

Setting the record straight on Keane

Wright is eager to push back against the fearsome public image that has followed Keane throughout his post-playing career. Their friendship began to take shape during their early days working as pundits, when Wright says he quickly discovered a different side to the former Manchester United captain.

"People don't understand Roy — he's not an ogre," Wright insists. "He's not some guy that's just in your face. He'll respect you if you're respectful. You'd never go into a studio with Roy and find he'd be rude or disrespectful."

Wright adds one final note that speaks to why the partnership works so well on screen: "I love the fact you never know what he might say."