Roy Keane has revealed the turmoil that he was under when he signed for Celtic six years ago.
The extent of his strained relationship with Alex Ferguson was laid bare in an interview in the Sunday Times that brought the fractured relationship of the Old Trafford icons into the open.
Keane’s reign at Old Trafford is believed to have been ended by a hard hitting interview for MUTV when he criticised the attitude of younger players following a 4-1 defeat at Sunderland.
The interview was never broadcast but Keane’s days were numbered with Ferguson showing the same ruthlessness that brought to an end the Old Trafford careers of Jaap Stam, David Beckham and Rudd Van Nistelrooy.
Keane was critical of Manchester United’s defeat against Basel which ended their Champions League interest with Ferguson firing back at the after match press conference.
“I look back at the relationship and sometimes wonder if it wasn’t about me being good for him and good for the club,” Keane revealed. “Without players like myself, maybe he wouldn’t have such a good managerial record.
“People say he stood by me in difficult times. Not when I was 34., not when I was towards the end and had a few differences with Carlos Queiroz.
“All of sudden then ‘off you go Roy, and here’s the statement we’ve done’.”
Despite being the most idolised player of Ferguson’s 25 year reign at Old Trafford the hurt felt by his departure ensured that Keane steered clear of a club banquet to recognise Ferguson’s service.
“The way it ended, the legal letter, I couldn’t have gone and sat there like everything was great. He [Ferguson] would come and we all stand up and clap, I couldn’t have done that.”
During his playing days Keane vowed never to become a pundit on the outside looking in but has defended his television role and the need to say things as he sees them.
“You could question every pundit’s managerial skill in relation to his and we’re all going to come up short,” the former Irish captain admitted.
“But I would also say that without players like myself, maybe he wouldn’t have such a good managerial record, because players who go down the punditry road, it’s soon forgotten that we put bodies on the line for him.
“There was an angle there (Ferguson’s criticism of critics) of trying to get the fans to look differently at me and I thought, ‘I can’t have that’. I thought it was ridiculous.
“I can hardly do the TV wearing the United scarf and if me telling the young players to pull their socks up is such a hard thing to accept, I ask myself what kind of world are we living in?
“I know how this works, absolutely. When I spoke to Alex about management before I left United, the two words he always used were power and control.
“I understand power and control over people inside the football club, understand that 100%. But not power and control of the people who have left the club.
“He’s trying to have power and control over me but I left six years ago. So I just thought, ‘You didn’t need to go there’, but having said that, it didn’t surprise me.”
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