Video: Chelsea players’ ear-flicking gets Roy Keane’s goat on ITV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iep9qHe5SjA

You were probably glued to the Arsenal match yesterday evening, but over on ITV, Roy Keane was launching into another of the rants that threaten to make him more famous than his football.

Keano’s disillusionment with the modern footballer has been known for quite some time now, ever since the infamous rebuke of the young Manchester United players on MUTV that earned him the sack from the Red Devils in 2005.

As he grows older, Royston’s disdain for the players that play the sport he used to love has increased, culminating in an angry rant at the Chelsea players for flicking the ear of Romelu Lukaku before their FA Cup replay with Birmingham last night.

Host Adrian Chiles and fellow analyst Gareth Southgate looked more than a tad uncomfortable in the ITV studios as Keane labelled the behaviour of the Chelsea players as “stupid carry on”.

“It’s so childish it’s crazy,” he added.

Chiles suggested to Keane that ear flicking has been rife in the game for years, but the remark was given short shrift by the former Irish captain, who replied: “Not when I was playing. All that carry on is ridiculous, it’s so childish.

“They shouldn’t be smiling; they let the manger (Andre Villas-Boas) down. All that carry on reflects what the mood must be in the camp, it’s an absolute disgrace, they should be focussed on the game.”

A few weeks ago, he had a go at players for wearing gloves, now it’s for flicking ears. God help them when one of them tries to end the career of a player with a vicious tackle in an attempt to settle a feud that originated years and years before. Oh wait...

Check out Roy's latest rant for yourself in the video above.