Ireland’s most fearsome sports star Roy Keane has spoken about why he thinks he clashed with managers during his playing career, saying ‘I should only answer to my dad’.
Keano was a renowned warrior on the pitch, famous for his aggression and will to win and that reputation has not faded since he hung up his boots.
As a pundit, the Cork man is equally feared as his scathing comments can strike any current players and managers down to size without remorse.
In a fascinating interview with his former team-mate Gary Neville, Keane has hinted at why he feels he would often find himself at loggerheads with his managers.
Keane was a guest on Neville’s YouTube show The Overlap.
He spoke about the most famous bust-up of his career, when he fell out with national manager Mick McCarthy and did the unthinkable – walk out on his team just days before the World Cup.
Keane explained that the tension began several years earlier when he was a young player making his way in the national team.
He said some senior players such as David O’Leary and Packie Bonner had taken him under their wing and made him feel welcome and valued in the squad.
However, McCarthy, who was a player at the time, ignored Keane and his first interaction with him was to try and administer some discipline after the young star arrived late for the team bus.
Keane said: “Jack Charlton was having a go, Jack’s the manager, but I didn’t want a player having a go at me who’s never spoke to me.
“If Packie Bonner or Dave O’Leary, who probably helped me, were saying, ‘Roy, you know…’, yeah, I’ll take that.
“But not from somebody who’d never spoken a word to me and he was shouting at me in front of everybody, so that would have been the start of it.”
Several years later Keane and McCarthy fell out big time resulting in Keane leaving the World Cup.
Neville asked Keane why he felt he clashed with managers through his career and the hardman responded that he thought it was a lack of respect shown towards him.
He cited an incident in the early stages of his managerial career when he clashed with his boss, the Sunderland chairman Ellis Short.
Keane said: “It was the respect, the way he used to speak to me, I didn’t like the way he used speak to me, just the tone of his voice.
“I felt — and I’ll go back to the way I left United, even with Ireland — I think if people speak down to me or show me a lack of respect, it does irritate me.
“When I look back at my differences with other managers, I really feel I should only answer to my dad, I shouldn’t be spoken down to by Ferguson or McCarthy.”
Keane spoke openly about his career and life throughout the episode. You can watch it in full here.
Will someone tell Roy Keane why he can’t get another job in management? Not me though…