Roy Keane: The best bits
Contents of former Manchester United captain Roy Keane's autobiography, The Second Half, were published by national newspapers online on Monday after a Tesco store in Burnage mistakenly started to sell the book early. Here, we pick out some of highlights from the bust ups to the punch ups
Friday 10 October 2014 12:09, UK
KEANE ON FIGHTING WITH SCHMEICHEL…
Keane claims to have had an alcohol-fuelled fight with United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel on a pre-season tour of Asia in 1998. The scrap is said to have occurred in a Hong Kong hotel after the pair had been on a night out. Keane was apparently so drunk that he had to rely on team-mate Nicky Butt to recount to him exactly what happened the following morning.
"There'd been a little bit of tension between us over the years, for football reasons. Peter would come out shouting at players, and I felt sometimes he was playing up to the crowd, 'Look at me!’ He was probably doing it for concentration levels, but I felt he did it too often, as if he was telling the crowd, 'Look what I have to deal with.’ He said, 'I've had enough of you. It's time we sorted this out.' So I said, 'OK,' and we had a fight. It felt like 10 minutes. There was a lot of noise - Peter's a big lad. I woke up the next morning. I kind of vaguely remembered the fight. My hand was really sore and one of my fingers was bent backwards… Butty (Nicky Butt) had refereed the fight. Anyway, Peter had grabbed me, I'd head-butted him - we'd been fighting for ages."
KEANE ON APOLOGISING TO FERGUSON…
Keane effectively withdraws an apology that he gave to former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson after a notorious MUTV interview in which the Irishman was alleged to have criticised several of his team-mates.
"Now I kind of wish I hadn't (apologised). Afterwards I was thinking, 'I'm not sure why I f****** apologised'. I just wanted to do the right thing.”
KEANE ON DISPUTING WITH FERGUSON…
In his own autobiography released in 2013, Ferguson accused Keane of challenging his authority in the MUTV interview with the criticism of several members of the United squad, including Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher and Alan Smith. But Keane disagrees.
"The idea that I was in the studio ranting and raving, no... I was told the interview was being pulled. They couldn't believe what I had said. I didn't think it was too bad. I thought everyone was overreacting."
KEANE ON QUEIROZ QUESTIONS…
Keane does not try to play down the severity of a row with Ferguson, and his assistant - Carlos Queiroz, who apparently accused the former Republic of Ireland captain of disloyalty.
“I said, 'Don't you f****** talk to me about loyalty, Carlos. You left this club after 12 months a few years ago for the Real Madrid job. Don't you dare question my loyalty."
KEANE ON ROWING WITH FERGUSON…
Keane says he then directed his ire towards Ferguson after he stepped in to stop the row between his assistant and captain.
"You as well, gaffer. We need f****** more from you. We need a bit more, gaffer. We're slipping behind other teams."
KEANE ON LEAVING MANCHESTER UNITED…
Keane, who moved to Celtic to play out the final five months of his career, claims his departure from United cost him a lot of money, because he was due to receive a bonus if he had played in 50 per cent of the first-team games in that 2005/06 season. When Keane was called into Ferguson's office in November 2005, he says he knew the manager was going to inform he wanted him out of the club.
"I said to Ferguson, 'Can I play for somebody else?' And he said, 'Yeah you can, ‘cos we're tearing up your contract' So I thought, ‘All right - I'll get fixed up.’ I knew there'd be clubs in for me when the news got out. I said, 'Yeah - I think we have come to the end.' I just thought, 'F******' p****' - and I stood up and went 'Yeah. I'm off.'"
