"Game's Back"

10 August 2026

45s

Are you right there, Roy?

The 2026 World Cup—less a football tournament than a pitch to investors—delivered a host of "game's gone" moments, from the half-time show nobody asked for to commentators talking about NBA/NFL-style quarters. In Sky Bet's 2026-27 season curtain raiser, however, it's yet another interminable VAR check that gets Roy Keane's goat.

As previously established by agency Anomaly and director Rich Hall, the yin to Keane's yang is Micah Richards, who's gotten pretty used to the Irishman's outbursts on Sky Sports over the years. When Keane says the game's gone, however, Richards thinks his irascible colleague needs some perspective, ASAP.

To show how football's survived controversy in the past, he takes him back to 1965 when substitutes were brought in, then 1891 when nets were strung up for the first time. It would've been fun to see Bill and Ted Roy and Micah visit another flashpoint or two, but the brand wants to tell punters "the game's back" sooner rather than later. Time is money, after all.

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