I am a fully paid up ABU. Most people who have even a tangential relationship with the game are. The team I most detest is Arsenal (being a Spurs fan).
Why is there not a thread from me on the dodgyness of AFC? Because they’re not dodgy (unfortunately). If I tried to do the same to AFC all I could come up with is that they have two gay players in the first XI (which isn’t a big deal) and that their relationship with Sky Andrews isn’t as transparent as it could be.
Man Utd appear to believe that they are bigger than the game and sod the rest of us. Fergies refusal to allow his players to play for their country, his dealings with Motson/MOTD and Alan Green. Oh you get the picture…
Yes all clubs have the odd skeleton. MUFC has an ossary.
Back to Roy Keane. He has admitted to ABH at least (possibly GBH). There is plenty of video evidence. I await the call from Mr Plod, but given that it is MUFC we are dealing with I won’t hold my breath.
I personally couldn’t give a shit about premiership football at all. That said glass onion has brought up some things that haven’t been queried so far.
Is the injury that Haaland is suffering from now a different injury? I’ve only heard the situation described in the press as Keane put the man of the game etc.
Did Haaland play after the tackle only to pick up a new injury on a different leg?
Haaland played for Norway within the next few days. He has suffered other injuries since, which have caused him more grief. I think he is jumping on the bandwagon or is being encouraged to. However, the extent of his injury is irrelevant. By Keane’s own admission he deliberately kicked Haaland with the intent to injure. Even if Haaland had got up immediately and run around like a gazelle afterwards, it makes no difference - the assault took place.
A lot of what happened didn’t seem to be reported in the UK during the world cup. Also the majority of pundits were ex/managers and would default to McCarthy’s POV.
Keane is a petulant asshole at times but the situation in the Irish camp during the world cup was terrible. No kit, the players had to play in their own kit that they brought, no championship balls, the practice pitch was dangerous etc. This kind of thing has being going on for years. It’s only recently that the players even flew first class. They used to be in couch while the FIA officials were up in 1st.
McCarthy held a team meeting were he publicly accused Keane of faking injury to get out of qualification games. This was a very very bad managerial decision. Many of these were made.
The story about Keane calling McCarthy a “English c**t” were untrue. Most likely IMO spread by a FIA person to bolster opinion for McCarthy. Keane did say ~“You’re a crap manager, you were a crap player and I don’t like you”
McCarthy didn’t manage the situation at all. Keane is by no means innocent in the matter but McCarthy stands out to me as the one who really fucked up.
What happened after is a different matter altogether. Keane made a point of walking his dogs in front of the press pack during the Ireland matches. That was wrong IMO.
Oh and remember Keane threatened to return home but didn’t. He was sent home by McCarthy.
That’s obvious from the video footage. He was punished for it at the time. There are a lot of incidents where the player goes for the player and not the ball. Should cricketers be under the treat of the law if they bowl bouncers? (Not talking about bodyline here, just the occasional bouncer )
Yojimbo Quote “Is the injury that Haaland is suffering from now a different injury?”
Yes it is, his LEFT knee is the one currently injured, and was operated on only DAYS before THE tackle, if you look at the replays from that game, it is even strapped and bandaged.
Haaland played for Norway FOUR DAYS after the incident, showing no ill-effects from the tackle
owlstretchingtime
I feel I must tell you that I too am Irish, and after the Keane v FAI(not just McCarthy) incident in Saipan it became pretty clear to me that there are certain factions within the media that are pretty Anti-Manchester United. One of my close friends from Manchester sent an email to YourView at Sky Sports. the first line was stating that he was glas that Keane had been sent home from the World Cup, the reasons he gave were that Keane would get a rest and be ready for the new season…Sky put an anti-Keane and Manchester United spin on this…a clear twist of my friends intended comments.
I think you know what “side” I took in that affair.
Quote: "If Beckham had done that to us his life wouldn’t be worth living. Yet I see that Keane was warmly recieved when Manchester United played in Ireland. "
Beckham wouldn’t feel the need to speak out about the Enlish FA’s lack of professionalism, as they are very professional, and they have a very good man-manager in Eriksson, the FAI on the other hand are quite unprofessional and have a manager who does not have the required man-managment skills needed for professional international football.
The reason Keane was so warmly received was because the majority of football fans in Ireland sat up and took notice of Keane’s comments, unlike the FAI who tried to sweep the whole affair under the carpet. Keane highlighted for the people the problems within the FAI, and the people respect him for it.
He did play 4 days after the injury, and the current injury that has hime out of the game is a different injury altogether. Haaland is a golddigger.
Personally, I think Keane got railroaded by McCarthy. The younger members of the squad wre never going to speak out other than to sheepishly agree with McCarthy. They all know McCarthy’s method of picking players based on “Loyalty” (to him, anyway). As a result, the only quotes we got from the squad were from the McCarthy Lackeys (Quinn, Staunton) who were about to retire internationally anyway, and a misquote from Matty Holland saying he was “relieved that Keane was gone” when he actually said that was “releived that the squad could now continue”.
The only young player to speak out on behalf of Keane at the time was Clinton Morrisson, who coincidentially didn’t get a game in the World Cup, where as the shit David Connolly, who couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo, got 20 minutes against Spain.
Yes, Keane was at fault for the Saipan incident, but McCarthy was moreso, IMHO.
The sooner McCarthy is out, and we get our best player back, the better.
glass onion, you haven’t provided any cites for your assertions. Particularly re. the friendly and that it’s a different knee that’s injured. If this is true, then he’s surely going to be laughed out of court. And if we can find this out, then a court will be able to, too. Therefore if he’s lying, he’d almost certainly not pursue it - not a golddigger (though he does appear to be a shit).
There is a difference. In cricket, 6 7/8 oz. of leather is hurled at you at speeds in excess of 80 mph. You, the batsman, know it’s coming. You have a large wooden bat, a safety helmet, thigh and chest padding, protective gloves. You have the option to duck, run away or hit the ball with your bat. If you get hurt, you accept it as part of the game. Nasser Hussain has never complained about the number of times his fingers have been broken by bowlers.
In rugby, there is an accepted level of violence in the game. Not nice, against the rules and too rarely acted on but it exists. When it gets out of hand (cf Martin Johnson earlier this year) the player should be prosecuted.
In football, you do not expect some thug to lunge at you deliberately. If it was an accepted part of the game, Haaland would have been wearing extensive protective clothing to prevent the injury or to reduce its effect.
FWIW not only do I think Keane should be prosecuted but any sportsman, including captains of England (Johnson), who uses violence in a game with the intent to deliberately and maliciously injure another player. It is assault. Sporting injuries are bad enough, but allowing players to get away with assault ruins the game.
Keane has himslef admitted in the book serialisation that he was partly to blame for the Saipan incident, and he was wrong to rise to McCarthy’s bait.
I have stopped supporting the Irish team until such time as the FAI is disbanded and a new professional set up is put in palce. I couldn’t care less if they fail to qualify for Euro 2004, I dont support them any more.
TwistofFate “The sooner McCarthy is out, and we get our best player back, the better.”
Let McCarthy stay, if it means that Keane won’t play for Ireland it can only be a good thing, he won’t pick up needless injuries, and be able to get rest at international times, while the rest of the premiership and european top-dogs are playing.
I am currently lookin for a cite for the injury claim
Monday 14th May 2001
Knee injury wasn’t caused by Keane
I had the operation on my knee earlier in this week and it went well. In fact, I wouldn’t really call it an operation; it was more of a clean-up job on my knee. And I just wanted to make it clear that it was not the knee that took a knock in the Manchester derby, despite what some papers have reported.
It’s my left knee that’s been bothering me, and it was clearly shown on Sky that it was my right knee that took the knock. Another example of the papers not checking their sources!
It’s actually been bothering me for the last three months, but I’ve played through it as we attempted to avoid relegation. Now that we’re down, it seemed like the most sensible thing to do it now, to get it out of the way so I’ll be ready in time for pre-season.
While the others have been preparing for the last game, against Chelsea, I’ve been having treatment every day in an attempt to get some movement back into my leg. After anything like that, it all goes a bit dead, so they’re just trying to get the swelling down and get the muscle working again. It’s one of those things that just had to be done and, as I say, it seems to be going well so far.
Well it’s my opinion. I support Manchester United and no other. I dislike the fact that Manchester United players play for any international team, be it Ireland, England, France, Argentina or Holland. International football is a joke, as illustrated by the fact that a team like the USA can be in the top 10 of international teams.
There are two aspects of the law to consider, criminal and civil.
The criminal law used to be that you give implied consent to a certain level of harm when playing a sport – I’m out of touch with more recent decisions so that may have changed. That means that all that flows from (something like) reasonable activity within the appropriate context is not actionable: Q – when is a foul reasonable when is it not ?
The civil law is quite a different kettle of fish – those presuming “gold digging” are assuming a civil suit resulting in the award of damages. I haven’t heard anything of that. FWIW, such a suit might be tricky as a causal link (given the other, later, injuries mentioned above) would seem to be difficult to establish – even on the lesser burden of proof in civil cases, that of ‘on the balance of probability’ (rather than ‘beyond reasonable doubt’). IINAL, though.
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