KEANE HAS BECOME AN EMBARRASSMENT

Last updated : 03 September 2002 By editor
Henry Winter in Torygraph

'It is difficult to know who needs the break more: Roy Keane from English football or English football from Roy Keane. The most complete footballer in the country has become an embarrassment to himself, his team-mates and his sport.

He needs to consult three people quickly. First, a surgeon must sort out his long-standing injury. Second, Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, the third wise owl Keane must contact is a rage counsellor. He is a man on the edge and he needs expert counsel from a professional on how to regain control. The demons assailing Keane appear manifold. A self-confessed heavy drinker in the past, Keane is now learning to live his life more abstemiously and the transition cannot be easy.

Getting annoyed with Phil Neville is a national pastime, but Keane's push on his own team-mate at Sunderland - and Neville's understandably peeved reaction - was unforgiveable. Such behaviour - and the dismissal - will only erode further the once monumental respect for Keane within the United ranks. His colleagues have striven hard in the past two years to improve their disciplinary reputation and Keane promptly hijacks the headlines with tales of ugly tackles and elbows.'