ACCORDING TO ROY KEANE, his former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson tried to pressure him into not playing for his country.

In a story by Daniel Taylor in today’s Observer newspaper, Keane is quoted as saying:

I was constantly under pressure from Ferguson [not to play for Ireland]. He would say: ‘I don’t want you playing in those games’. He didn’t speak  to me when I came back after one qualifier. There was all that nonsense going on.”

Last Thursday, on the same day Keane officially released his new autobiography The Second Half at the Aviva Stadium, Ferguson was also in Dublin, speaking in front of 1700 people at a Chamber of Commerce dinner event.

Keane pictured during the World Cup play-off first-leg against Iran at Lansdowne Road in 2001. David Davies / PA Archive/Press Association Images David Davies / PA Archive/Press Association Images / PA Archive/Press Association Images

Keane was seemingly aggrieved that the Scot had been invited to talk in front of prominent Irish business-people, given his alleged issues with Keane playing for the country in the past.

I guess it was a bit of a compliment because he wanted me available for United. Maybe if I was Scottish he might have been a bit more relaxed about it, because I know other lads would play for their country and he’d say: ‘Yeah, you go for it.’ He certainly didn’t wave me off saying: ‘All the best for Ireland’; far from it. Yet he’s in Dublin, probably preaching to everybody.”

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