Roy Keane’s barbed comments since his football career ended have become television gold, and a recent outburst has seen the truth told about a supposed argument with another player not long after joining Manchester United.
Former Red Devils striker, Wayne Rooney, found himself on the end of a tongue lashing from the Irishman after an apparent incident involving a remote control.
The Daily Star note that Keane had been watching some rugby the night before an away match at Newcastle, and after going to get his food, Rooney switched the channel to show the X Factor and then hid the remote control.
“He weren’t happy about it and we had an argument,” the Daily Star note Rooney as saying.
Keane, in his own inimitable style, hit back, suggesting that it was nothing of the sort. “We certainly didn’t have an argument, let me tell you,” Keane told Sky Sports and cited by the Daily Star.
“Yeah, I like my rugby league, and someone did change the channel and I wasn’t happy. We didn’t have an argument about it because the next day I remember coming down for breakfast and Wayne said to me, ‘oh did you find your controller?’.
“And I told him where to go and that was it really. If that’s an argument, god help us […] “I wouldn’t say I warmed to the guy. I certainly didn’t dislike him, but the lad was on a different wavelength, different banter. If hiding my controller was that type of banter then not for me.”
Both players have arguably gone on to become two of United’s greatest ever, but in Keane’s case, the intensity shown on the pitch appeared to have spilled over where Rooney was concerned.
Rooney isn’t the first to receive harsh words from his former captain, and he’s unlikely to be the last either, but even if some of Keane’s remarks could often be said to be questionable, there was no doubting his commitment on the pitch.