Roy Keane’s Sunday Times interview – a teaser

Roy Keane’s interview with the Sunday Times today is worth a decent chunk of the €2.60 cover price. It’s online over here (behind a paywall). Here’s a teaser of some of the stuff he has to say.

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On Ferguson looking after Ferguson:

“People say Ferguson always does what’s right for Man United. I don’t think he does. I think he does what’s right for him. The Irish thing [a legal action against Coolmore Stud's John Magnier over breeding rights to racehorse Rock Of Gibraltar, which Ferguson co-owned], I was speaking to the manager about it. This didn’t help the club, the manager going to law against its leading shareholder. How could it be of benefit to Man United? It wasn’t and we know what happened. What was that all about? Power and control. ‘They’ve used me, they’ve treated me badly’, Ferguson told me in his office.”

On the explosive MUTV interview that signalled the end:

“MUTV is dangerous, United get beaten 10-nil and let’s look on the bright side, let’s take the positive, it wasn’t 11. So ... I get the away game at Boro and it’s like, ‘Go easy on the lads here’. They were beaten 4-1 and I’ve got to say it was great that it wasn’t five.”

On being forced out of Man United:

“People say he stood by me in difficult times. But not when I was 34, not when I was towards the end and had a few differences with Carlos Queiroz. All of a sudden then, ‘Off you go, Roy, and here’s the statement we’ve done, and here this and here’s that’.

“Absolutely [I would not have been kicked out of the club if he made the comments at 27, not 34] ... I suffered for that towards the end, then it was unacceptable. The difference was that I was 34.”

On the bitter taste of the way his time at United ended:

“I count my blessings to have played for Manchester United. All of my family are United fans and I don’t have any bitterness towards Man United, please let’s make that clear. But when you get a letter from lawyers representing the club through your letter box, you wonder what it was all about. I rang David Gill, ‘What’s this all about, David?’ I did an interview to promote Guide Dogs for the Blind, I touched upon my leaving United. ‘What’s it all about’, I asked David.”

On refusing to attend Ferguson’s 25th anniversary celebration event:

“Anne Wiley, the club secretary, got in touch, but I didn’t go. Everyone to their own. Martin [O’Neill] said to me, ‘You’ve got to move on’, but I wouldn’t have felt comfortable. ‘No, not for me’, I said. I did get in touch with Anne, didn’t just not turn up. The way it ended, the legal letter, I couldn’t have gone and sat there like everything was great, he would come in and we all stand up and clap. I couldn’t do that.”

The full interview, by the brilliant seven-time Sportswriter of the Year David Walsh, can be found at this link or in the shops this morning.