Will the real Roy Keane please stand up

ONE minute he’s deified, the next he’s crucified. So what makes one of soccer’s most controversial figures tick?

Trying to figure out what goes on inside Roy Keane’s complicated head has baffled many and destroyed some - just ask Mick McCarthy. Now all may be revealed when the Manchester United captain takes to the psychologist’s couch for a Channel 4 documentary.

Millions of people are expected to tune on January 7 to watch the hour-long programme ‘Inside The Mind Of Roy Keane’.

The 31-year-old’s career has been colourful to say the least. He’s been sent off 10 times, raged against teammates and opponents and vilified his country’s ex-manager, Mick McCarthy.

Channel 4 spokeswoman Lucy Brookes said: “It is a psychological profile of one of football’s greatest enigmas. He is a hugely talented player but he has a unique self-destruct button.”

She said that no one, not even his manager, knows what really goes on inside the Corkman’s mind.

“This programme draws up a pyscological profile of the Manchester United captain and attempts to unravel the contradictions at the heart of football’s least understood living legend,” Ms Brookes said.

In a club with a tradition of brilliant players, Sir Alex Ferguson himself considers Keane, an acknowledged workhorse, to be “quite simply the best player I have ever had.”

But his sparkling brilliance comes at a price. Keane’s quest for perfection has lead to much publicised clashes with teammates, managers, and opponents - sometimes with serious repercussions as Manchester City’s Alfie Haaland will testify.

His brutal honesty divided a nation during the Saipan saga, cost the manager his job and nearly cost Keane his international career.

Inside The Mind Of Roy Keane will be screened on January 7 from 10pm-11pm.