Fergie gives Keane all-clear

MANCHESTER UNITED captain Roy Keane will set a modern era record of six FA Cup final appearances when he leads his side out against Millwall on Saturday.

The 32-year-old midfielder has recovered from the hamstring injury that kept him out of United’s last three games.

“He has trained for the last three days and I think he will be okay. I don’t think there will be a reaction. He’s done everything we have asked of him,” manager Alex Ferguson said yesterday.

“The important part was last week. He did a lot of remedial running and good endurance work, which was important, rather than play in the game against Aston Villa (last Saturday).”

Keane has won the FA Cup three times with United, as well finishing on the losing side once with his current club and once with Nottingham Forest 13 years ago.

The all-time record is held by Lord Arthur Kinnaird who played in nine finals between 1873 and 1883.

Ferguson believes the chance to collect a fourth winner’s medal will provide an extra incentive for Keane and is desperate to have his on-field leader back to face a Millwall side playing in their first FA Cup final.

“We are at the record-breaking part. Players pay attention to that. They have an opportunity to add to what they have achieved,” Ferguson said.

“You always want your best players on occasions like this and he is without doubt the biggest influence on the team.

“He’s the captain and he’s been there more times than anyone else so it’s natural you would want him there. He’s a great player.”

The memory of his own crushing cup final disappointment 39 years ago will ensure Ferguson does not run away from the hardest part of his job.

At some stage in the next 48 hours, Ferguson will pull aside five members of his first team and tell them they will not be starting the FA Cup final and another three they haven’t even made the bench.

For the Scot, who famously axed goalkeeper Jim Leighton from the 1990 final replay against Crystal Palace after his poor performance in the first game, such decisions may be routine.

Yet Ferguson insists delivering the bad news is just as hard now as it was when he first started out on his illustrious managerial career and, as always, he will draw on his own bad experience with Dunfermline in 1965 to ensure the task is carried out in the correct manner.

On that occasion, the fiery Glaswegian was told just 50 minutes before the Hampden Park encounter with Celtic that he wouldn’t be involved, even though he had finished the season as the Pars’ top scorer.

Ferguson has achieved plenty since then but the recollection of his despair is still vivid and he is not about to inflict such a cruel punishment on any of his players.

“Telling players they are not involved is without doubt the worst part of cup final week,” he said.

“There is no easy way to do it but I always make sure I tell them in private beforehand. I don’t just read the team out, or pin it on a notice board and run away.

“I had that experience as a player and it is not the right way to go about things.”

Keane’s return to fitness means Darren Fletcher and Phil Neville are most likely to be fearing a tap on the shoulder from the starting line-up that recorded the superb win at Aston Villa last weekend.

Meanwhile, Nicky Butt, Diego Forlan and David Bellion will be desperately hoping to at least make the substitutes’ bench after being left in the stand at Villa Park.

If they can’t, the trio face what Ferguson accepts is the ultimate rejection.

“I can’t escape the fact that there could be someone who has played a really important part in our cup run that I have to leave out,” he said.

“But at least it is some consolation if you are on the bench.”

In the bookmakers’ eyes at least, the result is a formality.

United will start the match as 1-10 favourites, the shortest price ever listed for the English domestic showpiece as they face a side lacking key men in Kevin Muscat and Daniel Dichio and possibly even their influential player-boss Dennis Wise.

The worry for Red Devils’ supporters is that the biggest letdowns in a season of underachievement have been against sides they would normally expect to swamp.

Ferguson’s side lost at relegated Wolves, failed to beat Leeds at home and were crushed at Manchester City.

However, rather than dwell on those setbacks, the Old Trafford chief reckons they will actually help in ensuring his team do not take Saturday’s opposition lightly.

“You hope complacency doesn’t surface but I do trust the players in that respect,” he said.