Roy Keane has lifted the lid on his strained relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson as the former Manchester United captain defended his right to criticise his old club.
Keane provoked United boss Ferguson's ire when, working as a pundit for ITV, he said United "got what they deserved" when FC Basel knocked the English champions out of the Champions League.
That comment did not go down well with Ferguson who questioned Keane's own managerial record, saying "(Roy) had an opportunity to prove himself as a manager too."
The Scot also raised the issue in his program notes before last weekend's game against Wolves, writing about criticism of the club coming "even from people we thought were perhaps on our side".
Keane believes Ferguson was trying to drive a wedge between himself and United's fans when he made that pointed reference and the former Republic of Ireland international sought out the Sunday Times in a bid to settle a few scores with his old manager.
"There was an angle there of trying to get the fans to look differently at me and I thought, 'I can't have that'. I thought it was ridiculous," Keane told the newspaper.
"I can hardly do the TV wearing the United scarf and if me telling the young players to pull their socks up is such a hard thing to accept, I ask myself what kind of world are we living in.
"I know how this works, absolutely. When I spoke to Alex about management before I left United, the two words he always used were power and control.
"I understand power and control over people inside the football club, understand that 100 per cent. But not power and control of the people who have left the club.
"He's trying to have power and control over me but I left Man United six years ago. So I just thought, 'You didn't need to go there', but having said that, it didn't surprise me."
Former Sunderland manager Keane, who is currently out of the game after leaving his role as Ipswich boss, was also hurt by Ferguson's questioning of his managerial achievements.
"If you want to question my managerial record, listen, you could question every pundit's managerial skill in relation to (Ferguson's) and we're all going to come up short," Keane said.
"But I would also say that without players like myself, maybe he wouldn't have such a good managerial record because players who go down the punditry road, it's soon forgotten that we put bodies on the line for him."
Keane is one of the iconic figures of Ferguson's 25-year reign at United and the Irishman earned legendary status among supporters after winning seven Premier League titles during his 12-year spell at Old Trafford.
His dynamic displays in midfield embodied everything Ferguson expects from his players, which makes the bad blood between them now all the more surprising.
But Keane has never been one to hide his feelings and he had no qualms about accusing Ferguson of failing to stand by him following his abrupt exit from the club in 2005.
"People say he stood by me in difficult times," the Irishman added.
"But he didn't when I was 34, not when I was towards the end and had a few differences with (former United assistant boss) Carlos Queiroz. All of a sudden then, 'Off you go, Roy, and here's the statement we've done'.
"I look back at the relationship and I sometimes wonder if it wasn't about me being good for him and good for the club.
"I go back to the two words, power and control. 'Say this, Roy, do this, pull this in a little bit', what I did or said was always for the good of the club.
"I suffered for that towards the end, then it was unacceptable. The difference was that I was 34."
AFP
Tags: soccer, sport, england, united-kingdom First posted December 19, 2011 10:44:55