It’s been an eventful season – are you ever surprised at the attention the club attracts?
"Never. Not at Manchester United. There is always going to be someone looking for a story or looking for negative stuff regarding the club. In fairness, we’ve given them a lot to write about. It’s been an interesting season. But the negativity surrounding the club has been disappointing"
How frustrating has that been to deal with? Does that have an effect on the team?
"Not when you are training or when you go out on the pitch. But, it doesn’t help the club full stop. It’s just negative all the time. Again, you have to take responsibility yourselves and say we’ve sometimes given the papers the negative stuff to write about. But that’s part of playing for United. They’re either building you up or knocking you down. We’ve experienced that plenty of times before."
Have you tried to help some of the younger players deal with that; coping with the mental pressures that come with being a United player?
"I think sometimes it is probably easier for the younger lads. They don’t take a bit of notice. As long as it’s not affecting their lifestyle it’s not problem for them. It’s just perhaps when you get that bit older and you’ve been at the club longer you see that it’s not nice for people to be knocking a great, great club; a club that does a lot of fantastic things for people. Sometimes I think we’re an easy target for the people in the media, and the FA."
It’s been tight when United have played Arsenal this season. Why is there such a gap, in terms of points, between the two teams in the league?
"It’s no good at all to compete with Arsenal but lose to the smaller teams. That is what we have done. That’s the way it was in the old days. It was the case years ago when United were beating Liverpool but not winning championships - winning the odd FA Cup was seen as a high for the season. We don’t want to go back to those days. Now, with the way things have changed for us over the last decade, people are talking about it as a consolation prize. The players deserve credit for how much we’ve improved over the last ten or fifteen years. But, it’s about being consistent and you only have to look at the games we have lost."
Can you put your finger on why that has happened this season?
"It’s easy to make excuses but there has been a lot of negative stuff around the club; there was the thing with Rio, one or two injuries and suspensions. But I don’t want to be using that because before the start of every season you know you are going to have these situations to deal with. Fair enough, the Rio situation was a one-off. But, you have to adapt to those problems. The fact is, the players that have been going out onto the pitch have been good enough, but for one reason or another we haven’t performed consistently. What hurts more was the European disappointment; going out to Porto when we fancied out chances. We’ve got a lot of experience in Europe and yet we just let it slip. Obviously with my sending off I should’ve known better."
What positives will you take personally from this season, and what positives can the team take?
"Good question! The biggest positives are that we have battled well this season and one or two of the young lads coming through. Hopefully this season will prove to be a good learning curve for a lot of players here. They have learned what it takes to win at United, and that is being consistent week in, week out. But, possibly another positive is if we finish second and that is considered a disappointment. If we can finish second and win the FA Cup it’s a great place to be if you look at that as a disappointment. You get one or two ex-players looking to criticise when not long ago they were winning the odd FA Cup it was like they had won the World Cup. Things have changed, expectations have been raised at this club, all for the good."
The huge expectation at United has contributed to the disappointment of going out of Europe and losing the title – but, is the competition is a good thing?
"It’s a great thing to have. If we can win the FA Cup, people would look at that as a disappointing season. That’s the point the club has reached, that is how far the manager, the players and the staff have taken Manchester United. Standards have been raised and when we’re not doing well it’s a major disaster. That is a healthy attitude. You can’t be losing games and thinking "not to worry". You’ve got to hurt, you’ve got to be disappointed. The fans have shown that and rightly so."
What are your ambitions as a United player?
"To win as many trophies as possible. As a player I am greedy and selfish in that way. As you get older, the seasons seem to go by that bit quicker. So, I just want to win as many trophies as I can and stay injury-free if that’s possible. To me it is all about the European Cup and the Premiership. That is what the fans demand and it’s a great responsibility for all the players because that is what we are paid to provide. When we disappoint we all suffer, and we’ve disappointed too many times this season."
There seems to be endless rumours about yourself and Celtic, can you put the record straight?
"My stance is that I have two years on my contract at Manchester United and I have never been happier. In my eyes I am playing for the biggest club in the world, there is no doubt in my mind about that. Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for the Milans, Madrids, the Arsenal’s and the Celtic’s – they’re all great clubs. But I’ve got two years on my contract and I couldn’t be happier. It’s unfortunate, but it is part of football that people are going to speculate. That’s part of being a footballer. I think sometimes the more you comment on it the more is made of it."
Er, shall we just leave this question out then?
"[Laughs] Yeah, exactly. That’s it, though. If you say ‘no comment’ people think, ‘Oh, he’s going’. You can’t win. It’s strange. As I say, I’m very happy here."
I read this line in a newspaper last week: "Part of the fascination with Roy Keane is that you are never quite sure what is coming next". Could that be applied to your decision to play for Ireland again?
"I think as a player you can’t be looking too far ahead. And in football I think you should always expect the unexpected. I’m sitting here saying ‘I’ve got two years left on my contract’; many players have said that and before you know it they’re off. I try not to look too far ahead. You have to make these decisions like the one about playing for Ireland. I made the decision and there are lots of reasons why, but I just feel it is the right one. And I believe I will be proved right. We’ll see. Like you said, you have to expect the unexpected."