Roy Keane has reignited his feud with Sir Alex Ferguson by accusing his former manager of having a ‘massive ego’.
The former Manchester United captain was speaking in the ITV documentary Keane and Viera – The Best of Enemies, which will air tonight after United’s Champions League fixture with Shakhtar Donestk.
Keane was responding to comments Sir Alex made in his recent autobiography, where he described the Irishman’s departure from the club in 2005 was ‘the best thing that could have happened to United’.
“Just because Alex Ferguson says it, it doesn’t mean it’s the truth,” said Keane, who Sir Alex believed had become too self-important.
“He is absolutely wrong. I never felt for one second I was more important than the manager, absolute nonsense.
“The manager has accused me of trying to manage United behind his back, but what I did do, I managed the dressing room. That was my job. I tried to nail players who stepped out of line.”
However the Republic of Ireland said that he was not affected by the comments as he had come to expect such barbed remarks from his former boss.
“Nothing surprises me with that man,” Keane said.
The 42-year-old went on to say he thought that Sir Alex is still attempting to exert influence at the club by remaining at United as a director.
“The two words the manager used all the time were control and power. That was the way he worked. You can clearly see that because he’s still striving for it now, even though he’s not a manager,” he said.
“There’s massive ego involved in that. You have a power and control over people and you try to have it when you’re not even working with them.”
In the documentary, which chronicles Keane’s long-running feud with Patrick Vieira, the Irishman also opened up about his feelings concerning Sir Alex’s dispute with former United shareholders John Magnier and JP McManus over their racehorse, Rock of Gibraltar.
“I thought that was wrong, absolutely,” he said. “It can’t be good for the football club. If a manager of the club is taking legal action against major shareholders, if people don’t think that had a negative effect on the club then they are living in cloud-cuckoo-land.”
Keane even went so far as to dismiss compliments Sir Alex made about his performance in the 1999 Champions League semi-final, where the Scot said Keane was ‘pounding every blade of grass’.
“Stuff like that kind of insults me,” he said.
“To be honest, I actually get offended when people throw quotes at me as if I am supposed to be honoured by it. That was my job. It is like praising the postman for delivering the mail.”
Image courtesy of ITV, with thanks.
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