Alex Ferguson yesterday broke his silence on Roy Keane's sacking from the Ireland team to reveal he had urged him not to go the Far East in the first place.
'I didn't want him to go to the World Cup,' Keane's Manchester United manager said, 'as he needed an operation [on his knee]. But he was determined to go and he didn't see defeat as an option.'
It was Ferguson who persuaded Keane to stay in Saipan when the Ireland team captain threatened to walk out on the squad after a training-pitch bust-up with the goalkeeper Alan Kelly. Once Keane had abused the coach, Mick McCarthy, though, his early departure was out of everyone else's hands.
'People talk about Ireland going to the World Cup for a jaunt but that wasn't on his agenda,' Ferguson said. 'All great sportsmen have an edge to them but I think control is important and I need to speak to Mick McCarthy. All I know is what I have read and I think that has been coloured.'
Speaking at The Curragh, where his horse, Rock Of Gibraltar, won the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Ferguson added: 'It is disappointing. But I spoke to Roy this morning and he is quite clear about what he has done. Roy is the greatest player I have had and the greatest player Ireland have had. When I spoke to him he expected me to be interviewed and he wanted me to say that he hoped Ireland do well.'
There were other developments in the saga yesterday over rumours that had circulate about Keane's private life. An unsubstantiated story that started on a website, spread through pubs across Ireland and Britain, made its way on to radio talkback programmes in the Republic and was thought to be headed for the front page of today's News of the World . It died a quiet death with one phone call.
Rebekah Wade, editor of the News of the World , assured Keane's agent and solicitor, Michael Kennedy, that there was no truth in his suspicions that they were going to 'turn Roy over'. A spokeswoman for Wade told The Observer yesterday that the editor had been contacted by Kennedy - who will play a part in negotiations with tabloid newspapers over the serialisation of the footballer's biography, due to be published in the autumn. She took the opportunity to tell Kennedy that stories he might have heard about an exposé had no foundation.
That possibility had been floated in the News of the World's sister paper, The Sun, however, in a front-page story on Friday morning. Under the heading, 'Riddle of Roy's Rage', the paper said Keane had engineered his own sacking. His expletive-littered rant at McCarthy was allegedly premeditated. The Daily Mirror went down the same line, while there were further 'rumour' stories in The Daily Express and The Star .
The Sun said: 'Within hours of the flare-up, rumours were sweeping football that problems in the star's private life had led him to blow his top.' Kennedy was quoted as saying, 'Roy will go mad when he hears about these rumours. There are no two people closer in football than Roy and his wife.'
Keane's English wife, Theresa, first heard the rumours from the wife of a former international colleague of Keane's. She is thought to have advised Kennedy, who spoke to Wade.
The original rumour (of which there eventually were several conflicting versions) was mischievous and did not take long to spread.
McCarthy, meanwhile, is understood to be writing a diary of his World Cup, which will be ghosted by the journalist Cathal Dervan, whom Keane made a point of mentioning last week as one of his harshest critics. Keane told the Irish Times he had refused to put his name to the programme notes for Niall Quinn's recent testimonial because Dervan had been employed to write them.
McCarthy might have created another small storm by writing a World Cup book, given what has happened in the past week. The serialisation rights are believed to be up for sale, with several tabloids interested.
On the BBC television programme Football Focus yesterday, the presenter, Ray Stubbs, clashed with Keane's biographer, Eamonn Dunphy, whom Stubbs suggested was biased in his wholehearted defence of the player.
'I think most people believe that Roy Keane has been badly treated,' Dunphy said, 'and I think that most people also believe that the manager has also been found wanting, because he didn't manage the situation.'
Dunphy refused to criticise Keane's farewell outburst that led to his immediate sacking and, in cutting him off during his explanation, Stubbs clearly annoyed Dunphy.
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'I didn't want him to go to the World Cup,' Keane's Manchester United manager said, 'as he needed an operation [on his knee]. But he was determined to go and he didn't see defeat as an option.'
It was Ferguson who persuaded Keane to stay in Saipan when the Ireland team captain threatened to walk out on the squad after a training-pitch bust-up with the goalkeeper Alan Kelly. Once Keane had abused the coach, Mick McCarthy, though, his early departure was out of everyone else's hands.
'People talk about Ireland going to the World Cup for a jaunt but that wasn't on his agenda,' Ferguson said. 'All great sportsmen have an edge to them but I think control is important and I need to speak to Mick McCarthy. All I know is what I have read and I think that has been coloured.'
Speaking at The Curragh, where his horse, Rock Of Gibraltar, won the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Ferguson added: 'It is disappointing. But I spoke to Roy this morning and he is quite clear about what he has done. Roy is the greatest player I have had and the greatest player Ireland have had. When I spoke to him he expected me to be interviewed and he wanted me to say that he hoped Ireland do well.'
There were other developments in the saga yesterday over rumours that had circulate about Keane's private life. An unsubstantiated story that started on a website, spread through pubs across Ireland and Britain, made its way on to radio talkback programmes in the Republic and was thought to be headed for the front page of today's News of the World . It died a quiet death with one phone call.
Rebekah Wade, editor of the News of the World , assured Keane's agent and solicitor, Michael Kennedy, that there was no truth in his suspicions that they were going to 'turn Roy over'. A spokeswoman for Wade told The Observer yesterday that the editor had been contacted by Kennedy - who will play a part in negotiations with tabloid newspapers over the serialisation of the footballer's biography, due to be published in the autumn. She took the opportunity to tell Kennedy that stories he might have heard about an exposé had no foundation.
That possibility had been floated in the News of the World's sister paper, The Sun, however, in a front-page story on Friday morning. Under the heading, 'Riddle of Roy's Rage', the paper said Keane had engineered his own sacking. His expletive-littered rant at McCarthy was allegedly premeditated. The Daily Mirror went down the same line, while there were further 'rumour' stories in The Daily Express and The Star .
The Sun said: 'Within hours of the flare-up, rumours were sweeping football that problems in the star's private life had led him to blow his top.' Kennedy was quoted as saying, 'Roy will go mad when he hears about these rumours. There are no two people closer in football than Roy and his wife.'
Keane's English wife, Theresa, first heard the rumours from the wife of a former international colleague of Keane's. She is thought to have advised Kennedy, who spoke to Wade.
The original rumour (of which there eventually were several conflicting versions) was mischievous and did not take long to spread.
McCarthy, meanwhile, is understood to be writing a diary of his World Cup, which will be ghosted by the journalist Cathal Dervan, whom Keane made a point of mentioning last week as one of his harshest critics. Keane told the Irish Times he had refused to put his name to the programme notes for Niall Quinn's recent testimonial because Dervan had been employed to write them.
McCarthy might have created another small storm by writing a World Cup book, given what has happened in the past week. The serialisation rights are believed to be up for sale, with several tabloids interested.
On the BBC television programme Football Focus yesterday, the presenter, Ray Stubbs, clashed with Keane's biographer, Eamonn Dunphy, whom Stubbs suggested was biased in his wholehearted defence of the player.
'I think most people believe that Roy Keane has been badly treated,' Dunphy said, 'and I think that most people also believe that the manager has also been found wanting, because he didn't manage the situation.'
Dunphy refused to criticise Keane's farewell outburst that led to his immediate sacking and, in cutting him off during his explanation, Stubbs clearly annoyed Dunphy.
· You've read the piece, now have your say. Email your comments, as sharp or as stupid as you like, to the football.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk.