Fifteen years after Roy Keane departed Manchester United under something of a cloud, his former teammate Wayne Rooney has dismissed the idea that this was all the Irish midfielder's own doing.
Portrayed as the straw that finally broke the camel's back on Roy Keane's time at Manchester United, Wayne Rooney still isn't quite sure what all of the fuss was about.
After United were beaten 4-1 by Middlesbrough in November 2005, Keane, who was analysing the match on the club's in-house television channel MUTV, reportedly savaged his own teammates for their lacklustre performances.
While the video never made it to air, in the eyes of Alex Ferguson the damage had already been done. Roy Keane had to go. For Wayne Rooney, however, it still seems to have all been blown a little out of proportion.
"I was at United when he gave his infamous MUTV interview," wrote Wayne Rooney in Sunday Times column, "but disagree with how it's portrayed."
In their joint appearance at an Off The Ball roadshow in 2019, Keane and Gary Neville revisited the moment in question. As the United players were brought into Alex Ferguson's office to watch Keane's analysis collectively, Neville recalled the moment as being particularly difficult.
"There were things that were said in that room," he remarked, "a moment where you spoke to Carlos [Queiroz] ... and there was just no way this was going to carry on. That meeting was horrific when we watched the video. It's not funny, honestly, it was horrific.
"For lads in the dressing room who were at the club 10, 15 years, to see this happening was horrific. You couldn't say anything, you were just thinking, 'For fuck's sake.' You knew that that was it."
That wasn't quite how the then 20-year-old Wayne Rooney saw things, however.
"Roy was supposedly too critical of his team-mates," he outlined, "but I've watched the video and there's nothing wrong with it at all.
"He said that players can't pass the ball 10 yards and they're playing for Manchester United and it's not good enough. Well, he's right."
In a lengthy column on the importance of captaincy in football and his experiences with and without the armband, Rooney also recalled his move to Manchester United in 2004 and the immediate impact Roy Keane had on new arrivals.
"Now Roy Keane was vocal," he outlined. He had an aura.
"I remember my first United training session thinking, “I need to impress him.” Not the manager. Him."
Be sure to tune in to Off The Ball's Sunday Paper Review from 1.30 pm this afternoon where Joe Molloy and his guests will be looking through all the biggest sporting stories from the morning's newspapers.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
