Irwin on Keane's book

Davo

Full Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2000
Messages
55,013
Location
It's Ours For Keeps
Former Manchester United defender Denis Irwin has criticised former team-mate Roy Keane for the timing of his controversial autobiography.

The United skipper has sparked outrage with the book, in which he criticises some of his Old Trafford team-mates by claiming their wealth has affected their focus on chasing success.

Irwin, a fellow Cork man and former room-mate of Keane's, told his hometown newspaper, the Cork Evening Echo: 'I am surprised he wrote this autobiography when he did. Not for the first time in his career I think he got the timing wrong.

'I don't know why he decided to go ahead and get the book ghost-written and I am surprised he did a book in the first place.

'He would be the first one to give someone stick in the dressing room if they'd done something similar.

'It could be more trouble than it's worth. He's had a pop at several players who have since left Manchester United like Mark Bosnich, Dwight Yorke and Peter Schmeichel. He's had a pop at a few inside the club without actually naming them but they know who they are, and he's had a major pop at Mick McCarthy.'

Irwin, now at Wolves, added: 'I am sure there are one or two players who will come back at him, but he's got to expect that.

'Roy is a very strong character; he wants the best and from what I have heard about Saipan [the Republic's World Cup training camp] I would back him to the hilt in all of that.

'But Mick McCarthy is bringing out a book and he's going to have his opinions. It can't all be one-sided.

'When things like this occur in football, they usually stay behind closed doors and this whole World Cup controversy should have been suppressed from the start rather than spiral out of control.

'The image of the international game at home will be tarnished and perhaps damaged as a result.'
 
To me the key quote in the Irwin interview is:

'Roy is a very strong character; he wants the best and from what I have heard about Saipan [the Republic's World Cup training camp] I would back him to the hilt in all of that.'

So Denis' point is one that I have made all along. The Saipan thing should have been kept behind closed doors and should have been sorted out in private. It wasn't, McCarthy fecked up and thats a fact.

Everything else Denis says is perfectly reasonable and really only translates as concern for Roy. It certainly isn't in line with the Mirror headline "Irwin Blasts Keane".

I am tired the way the press are twisting everyone's words to try and make out that Keane is a lone nut. Keane was right about Saipan, he was right about McCarthy and he has written an honest accout of the whole affair.

If Denis is concerned about the effect that this is having on Roy or everyone involved with Manchester United then I respect Denis even more than ever. He is demonstrating how highly he still regards the club and its skipper.
 
He's also had a pop at him for writing such a book in the first place...and pointed out that if the roles were reversed Keane would be whinging...
 
Given Irwin's exemplary service to United alongside Keane, his opinion is of more value than most of the pundits who have chipped in over this issue. I agree with Denis and was happy to get behind Keano over the WC training camp bust up as he seemed to be doing it for the good of the RoI team and although he lost it big time, it appeared, at least to me, as if McCarthy had engineered the whole thing to isolate and eliminate Keane to settle old scores.

The revelations in Keane's book should be kept behind closed doors however and should certainly not have been aired whilst he is still playing and whilst his admissions and niggles can disrupt team moral and put the club at risk of punitive action from both the FA and civil suits.

Keane has for the second time in as many months managed to talk himself into a corner and I now begin to wonder whether it is not either a sign that he has lost it, or an indication of a deeper rooted aim to force people into hounding him from the game as a whole. He has stated a number of times that he is tiring of the game, of the celebrity, of players as pieces of meat to be bought and sold.

Has he finally had it and wants out? But rather than having the nerve to bow out as Cantona did has chosen the bizarre route of transforming himself into a monster for the baying mob to demonise and chase from the game. He would always be able to say that he was forced out of the game at his peak by people who could not understand or match his commitment rather than admitting that he had quit. Unfortunately Roy, if this is the route you have chosen, there will be few to listen to your ramblings when the furore has calmed (just look at Cloughie for proof of that).

I hope I am wrong, Keane at his best is the powerhouse of our team, however the disruption to team morale and the disrepute he risks bringing to the United name are increasingly worrying.
 
This definately worries me...as said above..the morale...how his teammates will react to him. And I wonder if this loss the other night is an example of that loss of confidence in the captain's choices (like the book at the start of the season).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.