Friends (and enemies): 10 classic Roy Keane rants

The one which got Roy thrown out of the World Cup:

KEANE temporarily quits international football after a monumental slanging match with Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy, in front of his team-mates in Saipan. Keane had expressed his frustrations with the side's preparations for the 2002 World Cup, saying: “You’ve seen the training pitch and I’m not being a prima donna. Training pitch, travel arrangements, getting through the bloody airport when we were leaving, it's the combination of things. I would never say ‘that’s the reason or this is the reason’, but enough is enough.”

That interview led to a furious row, during which Keane allegedly told McCarthy. “Mick, you're a liar ... you're a f...ing wanker. I didn’t rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person. You can stick your World Cup up your arse. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country!”

The One that led to Roy leaving United: KEANE leaves Manchester United after attacking seven of his team-mates on the club's TV channel, MUTV. Keane's most stinging vitriol was reserved for Ferguson's record signing, Rio Ferdinand. “Just because you are paid £120,000-a-week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar,” Keane said.

“The younger players have been let down by some of the more experienced players. They are just not leading. There is a shortage of characters in this team. It seems to be in this club that you have to play badly to be rewarded. Maybe that is what I should do when I come back. Play badly.” Not surprisingly the video, originally scheduled as part of the Roy Keane Plays the Pundit slot on MUTV, was pulled at the insistence of manager Alex Ferguson.

The one with the snapped ligament: AFTER Keane suffered a season-ending knee injury while trying to trip up Alf Inge Halaand in September 1997, the Cork man stewed for three years before exacting his revenge in the Manchester derby. “I'd waited long enough. I f..king hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c..t,” he recalled in his autobiography in 2002. “And don't ever stand over me again sneering about fake injuries. And tell your pal [David] Wetherall there's some for him as well. I didn't wait for Mr Elleray to show the red card. I turned and walked to the dressing room.”

The one with the prawnsandwich: KEANE hits out at sections of United's support in the wake of what he felt was a dire atmosphere in the club's Champions League clash with Dynamo Kiev in 2000. “Sometimes you wonder, do they understand the game of football?” he stormed. “We're 1-0 up, then there are one or two stray passes and they're getting on players' backs. It's just not on. At the end of the day they need to get behind the team. Away from home our fans are fantastic, I'd call them the hard core fans. But at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch. I don't think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell ‘football’, never mind understand it.”

The one with the run-in with Big Jack: EVEN as a teenager, Keane was not afraid to stand up to authority. Following a friendly against the United States in Boston in 1991, the Republic of Ireland team are allowed a night out. The next morning, with departure set for 7.30am, the team are kept waiting until 8am by Keane. A furious Jack Charlton says: “Nineteen years old, your first trip, do you have any idea how long we have been waiting?” Keane replies, without a hint of fear: “I didn't ask you to wait, did I?”

The one with the letter: IN 2000, Manchester United write a letter to fans blaming Roy Keane's new £52,000-a-week contract for the hike in season ticket prices. Roy, unsurprisingly, isn't happy. “I'm not one for holding grudges but this was a stupid mistake, a bad public relations exercise and something that should never have happened,” he thundered. “I'm still waiting for my apology but I could be waiting a long time. The board have tried to explain what they meant, that it was part of a wider picture of trying to keep the fans informed, telling them the club wanted to rebuild and strengthen, which is why prices were going up. The fact is nobody should be singled out in a letter. It wasn't right. I felt everything was being laid at my door.”

The one where players are ‘pieces of meat’: IT’S 2002, and Jaap Stam’s £16.5m departure to Lazio finds Roy unhappy. Again. “His transfer to Lazio illustrates how little power footballers have in the game. Contracts mean nothing,” he fumed. “He has discovered that, to football clubs, players are just expensive pieces of meat. The harsh realities remain and when a club decide they want to sell there is little you can do once the wheels are in motion.”

The one where Roy proves to be a fortune teller: JUST prior to United's make-or-break Premiership showdown with Arsenal in 2002, Keane questions the desire of some of his team-mates and warns - prophetically as it turns out - the Red Devils could end the season without a trophy. “There are a lot of cover-ups sometimes and players need to stand up and be counted,” he admits. “I'm not sure that happens a lot at this club. That's the least we should do. We shouldn't have to demand it from the players - they should be proud to play and give 100%. We're not asking for miracles. We're asking them to do what they should be doing. When players don't do that it's bloody frustrating. We're going to find it hard to win the league and if we end up with no trophies there's something wrong.”

The one where he blames the youngsters: AS United lose their grip on their Premiership title in 2004, Keane rounds on unidentified younger players, accusing them of not pulling their weight. “We have one or two young players who have done very little in the game,” he spits. “They need to remember that and not slack off. They need to remember just how lucky we all are to play for Manchester United and show that out on the pitch.”

The one with the Irish blazers: IN 2001, Keane hints he might quit the international stage if Republic of Ireland officials continue to treat the squad like second-class citizens. Fresh from a brilliant performance in a 4-0 thrashing of Cyprus, Keane blasts the FAI. “Where we trained last Monday, in Clonshaugh, was abysmal and it has been for as long as I've known it,” he says. “I was fairly critical about our seating arrangements on the flight out here, when the officials were sitting in the first-class seats and the players were sitting behind. For me that's simply not right and it's not just because I'm playing for Manchester United. The priority has to be the team - and I don't think that has always been the case here.”

*Compiled by Michael Moynihan