Alex Ferguson implied that it was Roy Keane's reputation that made Uriah Rennie reach for red in the dying minutes of yesterday's game and the shameless South Stand moralists have once again claimed the high ground and haughtily declared that Keane should not have allowed someone like McAteer to wind him up. Regardless of the merits of the sending off it is the same 'bad rep' which sees Ferguson villified in this morning's press for giving Quinn the 'hairdryer treatment' when Saint Niall ran to see Roy from the field, after all Ferguson is 'known' to have a bad temper and Niall is such an honest professional - or is he?
Niall Quinn's self-proclaimed role as peacemaker in the Irish World Cup camp fitted nicely with his carefully-crafted image as a saint amongst sinners, an 'intelligent footballer and a thoroughly nice bloke to boot'. A man who, unlike his colleagues, is so aware of his own good fortune that he happily gives his testimonial money away to charitable causes. When in Manchester we are told that St Niall was more likely to be found having a quiet pint in pubs like The Circus Tavern than eating out at Reform and its like.
Jason McAteer's IQ level is equally as celebrated as Quinn's but for quite different reasons, when McAteer declared that he would prefer to read Bob the Builder rather than open the covers of Roy Keane's biography the only surprise was that his reading skills had progressed so far; after all this is a man when on a night out with fellow players allegedly asked a waiter to cut his pizza into four pieces as he wasn't that hungry and couldn't eat eight.
Our sources inform us that McAteer's jibes at Keane yesterday were as imaginative as you would expect from one so cerebrally-challenged and ran along the lines of 'there's another chapter for your book Roy', Quinn on the other hand is another stinking kettle of fish; the media world assumes that when Quinn approached the red-carded Keane and offered his hand he was again wearing his Mother Theresa halo but our sources reliably inform us that the comments were more designed to inflame than molify.
Quinn appears to have been concerned that Roy's early departure had denied him an opportunity to make his own petty point so he ran over to congratulate Roy and is alleged to have said 'well done Roy your are a f$*%in' arsehole'.
Maybe next time Ferguson should leave the hairdryer in the dressing room and take an industrial heater down to the dugout.