'We were those kinds of people back then' — Peter Schmeichel doesn't like talking about Roy Keane fight

Schmeichel joined Keane on this week's episode of Stick to Football and did speak about an infamous brawl in Hong Kong

Roy Keane (left) and Peter Schmeichel of Manchester United hold the FA Charity Shield after victory against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium. Pic Graham Chadwick /Allsport

Peter Schmeichel and Roy Keane were not particularly close during their time together at Manchester United. In fact, their edgy relationship spilled over occasionally, most notably in a hotel corridor fight in Hong Kong.  

But Schmeichel now says all those fractious relationships were down to the ferocious energy that drove that Manchester United dressing room. 

Schmeichel joined Keane on this week's episode of Stick to Football and spoke about that incident in Hong Kong.

"You can take any footballer who has been in situations like that, and I don’t see that as important. It irritates me that things like that are brought up sometimes because it’s so irrelevant. 

"It goes back to the same thing. We were those kinds of people back then and would do anything to win. It kept you in a certain mentality. Then you start playing and you become like that. There’s no way I can be like this now, it’s too much energy.

“We were in Tokyo the next day and I had to do a press conference, and it was funny. I had a little scar, and the media asked where I got that from. Roy [Keane] hurt me. They thought I was taking the piss, but it was just funny that we had to do that the next day.”

Keane previously described the incident in his second autobiography

The Second Half.

"I think we were in Hong Kong... There was drink involved. Myself and Nicky Butt had a night out and we bumped into Peter at the hotel reception desk. It was about two in the morning. We said a few words to one another, a bit of banter, a bit of stick. I went up to Nicky's room for some room service, had a sandwich, got up to go... Peter was waiting for me, outside the room.

"He said; 'I've had enough of you. It's time we sorted this out'. So I said; 'Okay'. And we had a fight. It felt like 10 minutes. There was a lot of noise. Peter's a big lad."

Keane agrees now that edge was part and parcel of surviving in that Old Trafford dressing room. 

"United players would always go off at each other because that is how it always was. There was a big edge to everybody. There were big personalities, and we were all trying to win. There was an edge to the training ground, to training, the boxes, the possession, the running. There was always that edge. Players and the manager wanted to win. The training led to arguments, disagreements and fights, but it was all a part of the package. 

"It’s what made Manchester United and there was energy. If you went to Manchester United’s training ground, we would always get stuck into each other and it was constant. Something could always go off.” 

Schmeichel maintains Alex Ferguson thrived on confrontation and even encouraged it. 

“What I learned very quickly was that Sir Alex Ferguson needed an out. Very often it was in games where things were going well, or he needed something off his chest. He had certain players that he would do that to. I was one of them, Gary Pallister was one of them and Roy Keane was one of them. Ryan [Giggs] was also one of them. 

It would have been brutal to watch but you were allowed to talk back as a player. He wanted that confrontation because it was shaking things up. He wanted that.

Keane suggests part of the edge between him and Schmeichel originated when the goalkeeper had to hand Keane back the United captaincy. 

"Peter was upset and reluctant in giving my captaincy back to me. I was coming back and Peter Schmeichel was reluctant to give back the captaincy, which added another level to it. We were playing in Denmark and the manager said that he would leave Peter as is for pre-season because he was in his hometown. Then we played the charity shield, and you had a go after the match.

“I got the captaincy back in the end and that was it, but it was just the personalities. I just thought Peter would say that I was back after an injury, and I could have my captaincy back. But he was reluctant.”