A little simplistic patriotism always was a dangerous thing, wasn't it? Some might say that Ireland (well, the North, anyway) is a living example (on both sides) of how so-called "patriotism" corrupts. You might argue that Keane's actions in the far east this summer were in and of themselves extremely patriotic. What's wrong with pointing out the truth, for example? What's wrong with demanding higher standards when those of your own country fall far below par? What's wrong with pointing out a shambles when all around you IS a shambles? And what's wrong with expecting Ireland, which is not after all a third world, Mickey Mouse country, to provide Manchester United type facilities? Every other leading European nation manages it for their national teams, and I rather think that Ireland fancies itself as a leading football nation, notwithstanding it's apparent determination to shoot itself in the foot through poor administrative management. Keane, of course, went about making his point in an unproductive way and he deserves to be censured for that, but the root of his criticisms are entirely reasonable. And, as Keane's love of his country seems to me to be beyond doubt, since when did the ability to be self-critical make you unpatriotic? Do you think that demanding something better and refusing to settle for second best when it's the result of nothing more than laziness and arrogance on the part of the administrators somehow means that you don't have any pride in the crest? Bollocks. Keane is probably a far prouder Irishman than anyone you know, but he wants Ireland to take pride in itself which, it is clear, is not the case. The recent report from the Irish FA now makes the point that they concur with him. They have effectively admitted that their efforts at organising the World Cup trip were a shambles, and have agreed to make changes. How sad that the price they had to pay to reach this obvious conclusion was the loss of their best player from the national team. You can take your grandstanding, pulp patriotism and shove it. I suspect that if the next generation of Irish footballers exceed the performance of their predecessors in part because they are enabled to do so by improvements that benefit their ability to play the game, then they will be thanking Roy Keane for taking the stand he did, and in a few years time we'll be saying that his actions were selfless, that only by making himself the scapegoat did Irish football join the twenty first century.
I must agree with sydtheagle, when has Keane ever complained for himself. All of his complaints whether for Ireland or United have been for the betterment of the team. Now I will also agree that his methods are sometimes wrong, but, he only wants the best for Club & Country...
i think that playing for your country is the highest honor in football and one should jump at the opportunity to be selected, not piss and moan that the hotel isn't nice enough. i'm not saying he hates ireland or isn't proud, but to me, it looks like roy is a bit spoiled playing for the richest club in the world and that he needs to suck it up when he gets capped for ireland. furthermore, he needs to realize he is not bigger than the team itself. no player is.
Yeah, which would be fine if you had your facts right. His biggest beef was with the preparation for the World Cup. There were no balls available on the first day of training because the Irish FA had forgotten to ship them out. The training pitch was hard as nails and littered with stones because the Irish FA hadn't properly inspected it, hadn't arranged for it to be watered in advanced, and it was thus likely to either cause injuries or exacerabate existing ones. The training session itself was half-arsed and disorganised. There was no dietician with the Irish team, and Keane recognised that players were eating the wrong foods at the wrong times of day. In short, World Cup preparation was a shambles. All of those things were the basis of his complaints, and they are all entirely legitimate. He is a professional athlete with very high standards who wants to win, and he expects the same committment of others. Keane went to the Far East to compete, but the Irish FA undermined the teams ability to do that. As no one else was prepared to get something done about it, Keane took it on his own shoulders. Perhaps he did that in the wrong way -- I'll be the first to admit that -- but this was not bitching about hotel rooms. Let's be clear about that. And part of truly loving your country, or anyone or anything, is being prepared to stand up to the thing you love and insist, even when it hurts, that it faces the truth.
If Keane wasn't a nutter, he wouldn't be one of the best around. And people have done far worse then Keane as far as intentionally injuring someone is concerned, just be happy another Irish central mid fielder isn't around these days, Johnny Giles.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; Sydtheeagle makes WAY too much sense to be on these boards let's not have the facts cluttering up this great thread. I remember a TV feature before the WC about the Irish kit manager and about the fact that it was his job to make sure that everything was there for the players (from having their fav candy bars all the way up to their football gear). from what it sounds like he didn't do a very good job. was he fired? doubt it.
The trouble with Roy is that he is totally honest and he can't understand why people hate that. He can't stand pretentiousness, hypocrisy or pompousness and he speaks out against it whether it's prawn sandwiches in the stand or colleagues that don't give their best. But he particularly can't stand it when players/managers don't give their all for the cause. He is utterly committed to giving absolutely everything all of the time and won't put up with others that don't. That was his problem with McCarthy. The conditions for the Irish team were, as the FAI admitted last week, amateurish and McCarthy wouldn't do anything about it. He was p.ss.d off with MaCarthy for that and when he then accused Keane of not giving his best he blew his top. The same was true of Haaland. Keane went down having bust a ligament and was in agony. Haaland stood over and yelled at him to quit faking it. Keane was, of course, then carried off and out of the game for months and determined he would see Haaland on the floor hurt and Keane would stand over him yelling at him to stop faking it. You almost hear Keane yelling "it's payback time" as he stood over Haaland. I don't agree with Keane's exaggerated attitude to all this but I know I'd rather have him in my team that in the opposition and there isn't a manager in Europe that doesn't want that sort of commitment from his players
You pack of bleedin’ hearts are pizzin’ me off. He’s an unconscionable self centered wanker. The question was “Is he a psycho?” YES..! He’s off his freekin’ chump. "Sir Alex" keeps him in a cage, jabs him with sharp sticks and feeds him raw meat. Then he turns him loose on match day. Honest....honesty according to Roy Keene is a joke.
Old keano injured himself when he tried to do a reckless challenge on Haaland in the leeds game. haaland handed out some stick when keane was injured on the floor but how was he to know that it was a serious injury?? It was just words spoken in the heat of the game . Haaland wasn't responsible for keanes injury .Keane injured himself because of his own stupidity . keane's challenge on haaland was one of the most reckless challenges I have seen in football .It was a premeditated attempt to injure an opponent and cant really be compared to Haaland giving him some verbals . Haaland has only played about 45 minuted football since that game and faces the end of his career . Keane must be thick as sh't to write a book about these things when he still playing his career . He's just a thick pikey who should be living in caravan back in ireland .I hope he gets the book thrown at him by the F.A or better yet.... injured in a reckless challenge.
I look forward to breaking into your house, stealing your money, killing you, and raping your wife. So that your world can be a bit more interesting.
Yeah, I saw that comment on the way past the other day. Meant to stop by and admire such an utterly asinine view of this issue. Must have slipped my mind.
Homer post of the year. What a stupid excuse. Keane is a complete psycho and you guys are only sticking up for him b/c he plays for the teams you support. Whoever said he is a more talented Vinnie Jones is right on. You apologists should keep your mouth shut before you get more behind in the argument.
I think Syd got it right. Keane is a child, a spoiled brat, and Ferguson is his dysfunctional daddy. All other explanations and apologies seem to convolute the obvious. Beckham is a world class player, so are Scholes, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Rivaldo, Hakan Sas, Cannavaro, Maldini, Rio Ferdinand, et al. None of them are psychopaths. You can have intensity on the field without being a psychopath. Trust me.
Re: And again today Yes, but you miss the far, far more interesting point, and it bears a scarily direct relationship to the Haaland incident. Just what was today's red card for? As I understand it, elbowing McAteer in the last minutes of the game. Jason McAteer? That's right...his Eire colleague and one of the more vociferous "Roy's got what he deserved" commentators in the press when Keane was sent home from the World Cup. One thing's for sure. Mess with Roy and it appears you'll pay the price. If there was any doubt beforehand that Roy was a pyscho, today's incident seems to underline that Haaland probably wasn't the first to suffer Keane style retribution, and almost certainly won't be the last. Is this guy becoming a danger, or am I just over-reacting? I bet a lot of other Eire players are not looking forward to playing ManUre this season.
I bet they ARE looking forward to playing against him, McAteer played him for a sucker today. Wound himself up all match knowing he'd lose his temper and now McAteer has caused Roy Keane to land himself another suspencion, if I we're an Irish player who disliked Keane I'd be looking forward to playing him and trying to get a reaction. Afterall, McAteer recovered within seconds, this incident will live with Keane for a while.
Gotta agree with slash on that one. Now, that being said and the way the keane has acted, and most likely will act in the future, would you want him on your team. Has he now crossed to the point that he is a liability to his team when he sets foot on the pitch? How many 50-50 tackles that result in a foul that could have gone either weay do you think he will win now? What if he just happens to be near a player in the box and the ref is blind sided and said player takes a tumble (dive) from a Keane tackle, what are the odds of a penalty NOT being given now. Will his teamates have the bottle to tell him any of this...will Fergie?
McAteer better take a sickie next time the teams meet or he’d better reserve his hospital bed in advance. How long was he waiting to get Haaland..? He has a long and selective memory. He and Mick McCarthy have an acrimonious history, it wouldn’t surprise me to read one day of how Keane tried to ruin McCarthy at the WC with his antics there and they backfired on him.
Haaland's knee isn't even the one that Keane went after. Keane blew up because the Irish FA couldn't organize a backyard barbecue much less a trip to the WC. Keane could calm down, but really what's the difference between admitting that you go after people and going after people and not admitting that you go after people and going after them? At least he's brutally honest. He's a f u cking footballer for god's sake, not a public relations man. And does he go after non-footballing Asians in the United Kingdom like Leeds FC has a propensity to do? Keane has a drinking problem? And how many other footballers have a drinking problem? A whole $hitload.