Roy Keane and Micah Richards have embraced football’s roots by dressing as Victorian gentlemen for Sky Bet’s latest ‘Game’s Back’ campaign.
Revisiting football’s earliest days ahead of the new Premier League season, the popular Sky Sports punditry duo donned period costumes as they took in the action from the terraces and showed off their keepy-uppy skills with a traditional pigskin ball.
Sky Bet‘s new advert, which officially launched on August 7, plays on the familiar ‘game’s gone’ phrase often used by supporters looking back nostalgically at how the sport has changed over the years, from players refusing to celebrate against former clubs to the introduction of VAR.
The advert begins with Keane and Richard sitting on the sofa watching modern-day football, before the Manchester United legend complains that the ‘game’s gone’ over a five-minute VAR decision.
The punditry duo then take a trip through different eras of football to discover that supporters were always questioning how the game was evolving.
Transported first to 1965, the pair complained about the introduction of the substitutions law before heading further back in time to 1891 to learn how fans moaned when nets were first attached to goalposts.
Popular punditry duo Roy Keane and Micah Richards have embraced football’s roots by dressing as Victorian gentlemen for Sky Bet’s latest ‘Game’s Back’ campaign
Richards and Keane also showed off their keepy-uppy skills with a traditional pigskin ball
In one light-hearted moment, Richards shushes his famously fiery punditry partner while the pair watch on from the stands, poking fun at Keane’s well-known habit of questioning changes in the modern game.
Sky Bet also shared behind-the-scenes footage of Keane and Richards shooting the advert, which showed off the duo’s chemistry.
Keane said: ‘One thing about football history is that people have always questioned changes to the game, but it’s funny looking back at some of the things we’d never want to lose now.
‘We had good fun bringing those moments to life.’
Richards added: ‘Football fans love a debate and that’s never going to change’.
‘Game’s Gone is a phrase that has engrained itself in football culture and beyond,’ said Harry Phillips, Sky Bet Marketing Director.
‘Yet even though we all love to moan about the game, it’s never been more universally popular and when push comes to shove, it’s the incredible moments of football culture, both on and off the pitch that keeps us coming back.
Sky Bet’s new campaign plays on the familiar ‘the game’s gone’ phrase often used by supporters looking back nostalgically at how the sport has changed over the years
‘We believe football always has and always will create moments no fan can resist. And at Sky Bet, we champion those iconic moments of football and fandom by giving our customers more ways to get in on the action.’
The new Premier League season kicks off with champions Arsenal hosting newly-promoted Coventry City on Friday, August 21.
