KEANE: `IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN`

In the Middlesbrough game last month, the footballing world was shocked to see the sight of the treble champions surrounding the referee after he had decided to give the first penalty against Manchester United, in the league, for seven years.

Keane, who was the leading participant in the Boro incident, exacerbated the problem by getting sent off, for two bookable offences, 10 days ago against Newcastle - one of which was for dissent after he made a hand gesture to an assistant referee.

The Manchester United midfielder has vowed he will never behave in such a way again, and invited his fellow professionals to follow suit.

D`Urso himself has revealed that he feared for his safety when Keane and his teammates surrounded him after Jaap Stam brought down Juninho.

Keane said:"We went over the top. Obviously we shouldn`t react like that. We regret it and it won`t happen again. I promise you that.

"Footballers are under a lot of pressures, but dealing with it is part of the job. It`s not right that we have a go at referees like that.

"As a captain I should be setting a better example. To go chasing the referee was wrong.

"We went over the top and the manager has had a word with us. At the time we thought nothing of it. We just thought it was a bad decision, and I`ve seen the incident on television and I still think the referee was wrong.

"But obviously we shouldn`t have reacted like that, although if he had stood still I don`t think we would have chased him. He kept running and we kept chasing."

Nic Evans