Roy Keane was no stranger to the occasional on-pitch confrontation, but the Manchester United legend also found himself in similar situations away from the pitch
Roy Keane has opened up about a bar fight he had with “a hockey team” while he was at Nottingham Forest. The Irishman was a fiery and destructive player during his time with Forest, Manchester United and Celtic.
Whether it was steaming into tackles or taking on the likes of Patrick Vieira in the tunnel, Keane’s temper was as famous as his brilliant abilities on the pitch. However, his heated nature was not solely confined to the field, as it often overflowed while he was out and about.
Keane, 53, was reminiscing about his early days as a young player while speaking to his ex-Forest team-mate Mark Crossley. While they were talking about some of their nights out during their days playing under Brian Clough, the Irishman mentioned a fight he was in the middle of during a mid-season tour in Jersey.
It was previously reported by FourFourTwo that Keane had been in the bar of their hotel at the time when a conversation with a female member of the public escalated and ended with her throwing a gin and tonic over him. He’s alleged to have responded with a pint of ale, at which point the woman’s husband got involved.
The incident was brought up in conversation on the Stick to Football podcast, while the likes of Gary Neville, Ian Wright, Jill Scott and Wayne Rooney were listening. The conversation began with Neville asking the pair if they’d had any memorable nights out with each other.
Crossley then turned to Keane and said: “Do you remember the Jersey ones, they were good, weren’t they? Those mid-season ones.” Keane immediately piqued the table’s interest when he replied: “I was sent back from that, remember?
“I had a fight with that hockey team or something.” After Scott curiously asked if the ex-midfielder had taken on the entire hockey team, Keane wryly replied: “It was a few of them.”
Keane would go on to elaborate on what happened in the bar fight after a mild cross-examination from the rest of the table. He began by explaining the consequences, saying: “He (Clough) sent me back from Jersey. An incident in the bar.”
When asked what happened by Crossley, Keane replied: “[Someone] wanted to get something signed. [Then] someone threw a drink over me.”
After Scott enquired whether it was because the Irishman refused to sign something, he replied: “No, it’s because I had already signed something from him and I said, ‘How many do you need?’ Then they threw a drink over me.”
Explaining what happened next, Keane, with a wry smile, replied: “I said that’s unacceptable behaviour. The next day he sent me back on a flight, two days early. The good days, huh?”
It would not be the last time Keane found himself having fisticuffs after sinking a few drinks. Last December, in a previous episode of Stick to Football, Keane explained how he left his ex-team-mate and former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel with a huge black eye after they came to blows while on a pre-season tour of Asia.
Looking back on the incident, he said: “Yes – he started it! It was self-defence, but yeah it was a proper fight. There was obviously drink involved and a bit of jetlag. I think Peter had a black eye. But we trained as normal the next day.”
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