The easily penetrable but wilfully destructive mind of Roy Keane (Other Football Players)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	Other Football Players
Date:	04/09/02 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great competitor

Disadvantages: Off his head

Comes the Sunday after the Saturday football programme, and there is the endless analysis of the previous day's events, with the better Sunday papers carrying their deeper analysis and dissection of the meaning behind and implications of the day's events.

This particular Sunday, the first day of September 2002, those awesome beasts have only one possible quarry in their minds' eyes-? the latest chapter in the turbulent and increasingly worrying footballing career of Roy Keane, captain and heartbeat of Manchester United and leader in exile of the Republic of Ireland. The Sunday Times was typical in its easily chosen front page headline - KEANE SEES RED, then tartily adding as a sub text 'United's best-selling author sent off'. It wasn't particularly clever, and the report on United's ill tempered battle at Sunderland contained no great insight, but inside they did add the well balanced and sympathetic feature written by David Walsh, which focused on Keane as family and father figure and his relationship with his family.

The interview had been in the can for a couple of weeks, originating in the dark days following Manchester United's shock defeat in the first leg of the Champions League qualifying round tie against Zalaegerszeg, but the Irishman's red mist over the weekend had given the most perfect opportunity imaginable for the piece to be aired.

For those of you who haven't got a clue what I am talking about, Sunderland's Irish international midfielder Jason McAteer was a member of the World Cup squad which had seen their former captain sent home 'in disgrace' for his shocking clash with manager Mick McCarthy. The affair had caused bad feeling on both sides and Keane has recently expressed his wish that McCarthy should "rot in Hell". The Irish squad who had been left behind had closed ranks against Keane in order to galvanise team spirit and the move had irked Kea
ne.

The build up to the Sunderland-United match was best summed up by the Sunday Times: "The potentially explosive confrontation between Keane and McAteer had been the subject of much pre-match speculation. McAteer was upset by some criticisms in Keane's book and, when asked recently for his appraisal, said: 'I would rather spend the price of the book on buying my three year old son a Bob the Builder tape.'"

McAteer, himself a pretty ill disciplined combination of Scouser and Celt, had seen fit to wind up matters further by going in hard on Keane in the opening exchanges and then perform a pretty believable imitation of the United man at a book signing ceremony. But such petty issues should be things which Roy Keane should be able to rise above and ignore. He is the captain of one of the best sides in the country and still one of the best midfielder around. His United compatriot David Beckham had to endure season long barracking in 1998 after his infamous dismissal against Argentina in the World Cup finals and did so with a rare grace which resurrected his place in the eyes of the nation.

Keane must have known that he would face such ill intentioned attacks and spite when he agreed to the publication of his autobiography, including the much criticised section on doing Alfie Haaland. Further, United are the most envied of Premiership club, and unscrupulous opponents will be ready to stoop to any means to throw them off their game and unbalance their title challenge. The Irishman has a responsibility to protect his team from such attacks and laugh off their pettiness. But unfortunately Keane has never been one to turn the other cheek and the simmering battle yesterday ended with him receiving the eleventh red card of his career.

McAteer, unusually deployed in central midfield after the omission of his colleague Gavin McCann through injury and thus in direct opposition to Keane, had continued his spoiling
tactics and picked away at the United skipper all afternoon. Both had been spoken to a
fter a particularly ugly set to which had ended with David Beckham pulling Keane off McAteer. No bookings followed, but McAteer did get a yellow soon afterwards for a fierce challenge on Ryan Giggs.

Keane had obviously had enough by now and with only seconds remaining and the game petering out into a 1-1 draw, he set about a petulant act of vengeance. The ball had long gone but chose to throw out an elbow which caught McAteer on the head. Referee Uriah Rennie had little hesitation in sending Keane from the pitch. Sunderland striker Niall Quinn, who was another Irishman who had earned bitterness from Keane after the antics of the summer, rushed to shake his hand as he left the field in a poorly motivated knife in the back, but was soon deterred by a bitter explosion from United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Fergie was in characteristically uncompromising and defensive mood after the match: "He's disappointed by McAteer's part in this. He went down like he had been shot in the back of the head. Roy put his hand across the boy's face, but there's nothing in it. I will review it and see whether we should appeal. My gut feeling is that this was a very soft red card. He'll be crucified by the press, we expect that. But the earlier tackle on Roy was a bad one. I've seen it again on television and the referee should have acted then."

It was pretty standard, one eyed stuff from Fergie, but he must be realising that Keane is his own worst enemy these days, and the poorly hidden Irish temper could yet be the undoing of United?s season. To the ongoing passion and fire, though, Keane's words, written and spoken, in recent weeks have added a cold and spiteful bitterness which fellow professionals have objected to, and understandably so.

The Irish summer left Keane feeling betrayed by some of his more exper
ienced team mates, and particularly Quinn and Aston Villa's Steve Staunton, and sent obvious warning signals for the season ahead by threatening: "So I will be looking forward to playing Aston Villa next season, and I hope Quinn carries on for another season at Sunderland. Some people are sheep and some are wolves. There are a lot of sheep over there and probably I am a wolf."

Keane has already been guilty of resurrecting the violence of his premeditated assault on Haaland a couple of years ago with his autobiography, when things could have been left to lie and already awaits the probable charge of disrepute by the FA. He now faces a ban for his latest offence and is playing under the shadow of the need for a hip operation.

This has not been a good season for Roy Keane.


His supporters, and the interview with Walsh, laud his searing honesty and openness and deep desire to lay his soul bare and play with his heart on his sleeve, but unchannelled passion and anger can only lead to one end. Ferguson would be well advised to calm his star son down and counsel some caution. Whatever the truth of life behind the dressing room door at Old Trafford, Fergie protests too much the innocence of his charges, and all it does is give rise to the potential of more players seeking to provoke the sort of rage and lack of discipline which the weekend brought us.

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