Roy Keane told Sir Alex Ferguson ‘we need fucking more from you’ in an explosive row after the infamous MUTV interview that triggered his departure from Manchester United.
The prickly Irishman has hit back at his former manager, who criticised Keane in his autobiography last year, with a host of scathing criticisms in his own book.
The Second Half, Keane’s updated autobiography, was slated for release on Thursday but its contents were leaked online after a Tesco store in Burnage put the books on sale 72 hours early.
The former Manchester United captain’s relationship with Ferguson soured when he launched a scathing attack of his teammates in 2005, following a 4-1 defeat to Middlesbrough.
Their strained relationship was divulged in Ferguson’s book, who criticised the Irishman’s disruptive influence in the United camp.
Now, almost 12 months later, Keane has finally lifted the lid on that interview and the explosive scenes that followed.
Keane writes how he got into a ferocious row with Ferguson’s assistant, Carlos Queiroz, who apparently accused the former United skipper of disloyalty.
”I said, ‘Don’t you fucking talk to me about loyalty, Carlos,” said Keane.
“You left this club after 12 months a few years ago for the Real Madrid job. Don’t you dare question my loyalty.”
The Irishman then turned his tirade towards Ferguson, who had stepped in to try and defuse the row between his assistant and most senior player.
”You as well gaffer,” he writes. “We need fucking more from you, we need a bit more, gaffer. We’re slipping behind other teams.”
The acidic row proved to be the final straw for Keane and Ferguson’s strained relationship, as the Irishman parted ways with the club he joined from Nottingham Forest in 1993.
Keane moved to Celtic to play out the final five months of his career and claims he lost out on a £1million bonus that he would have received if he had played in 50% of the first-team games in that 2005-06 season.
When Keane was called into Ferguson’s office in November 2005, he says he knew his time as a Manchester United player had come to an end.
Keane writes: ”I said to Ferguson, ‘can I play for somebody else?’ And he said, ‘yeah you can, cos we’re tearing up your contract’. So I thought, ‘All right – I’ll get fixed up’.
“I knew there’d be clubs in for me when the news got out. I said, ‘yeah – I think we have come to the end’. I just thought, ‘fucking prick’ – and I stood up and went ‘yeah. I’m off’.”
Keane still stands by his actions all those years ago – and now claims he regrets apologising to the Scot.
”Now I kind of wish I hadn’t [apologised]. Afterwards I was thinking, ‘I’m not sure why I fucking apologised’. I just wanted to do the right thing,” Keane writes.
Ferguson claimed Keane challenged his authority by criticising several members of the United squad, including Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher and Alan Smith.
But nine years on, Keane, who claims in the book someone at United leaked details about the tape, still stands by what he said.
“The idea that I was in the studio ranting and raving, no… I was told the interview was being pulled,” he writes.
“They couldn’t believe what I had said. I didn’t think it was too bad. I thought everyone was overreacting.”
In the book, Keane reveals he once had a drunken fight with Peter Schmeichel, as well as criticising at Rio Ferdinand for missing a drugs test.
The former midfield hardman also backtracks on comments he made in his original biography about Alfe-Inge Haaland, claiming he never intended to hurt the former Manchester City midfielder.
However, he says he does not regret making the tackle that effectively ended the Norwegian’s career.
Image courtesy of Setanta Sports, with thanks, via YouTube.
