He waited four years to hurt someone, then got fined £150,000 after admitting he did it on purpose. He had no remorse.
He won seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups, one Champions League and an Intercontinental Cup.
This is Roy Keane. Always the hardest man on the pitch.
He grew up in Mayfield, a working-class suburb of Cork, one of five children, his father working multiple jobs to keep the family fed. Before football he was a boxer. Won all four of his competitive bouts as a novice. Then football took over, but the boxer always stayed in him.
He was rejected by the Irish under-15 squad. Rejected by multiple English clubs for being too small. Eventually signed by Cobh Ramblers, then Nottingham Forest, where his manager Brian Clough punched him in the chest after he made an error in an FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace. "After the match he punched me in the chest. Sometimes you need lessons. It was a harsh lesson, but I had to take it."
He nearly signed for Blackburn Rovers. Instead Sir Alex Ferguson got there first. At Manchester United he replaced Eric Cantona as captain and became the engine of one of the greatest club sides English football has ever seen. Seven Premier League titles. Four FA Cups. A Champions League completing the treble in 1999 and the Intercontinental Cup that same year.
in 1997 he tore his cruciate ligament trying to tackle Leeds United player Alfie Haaland. As Keane lay on the ground unable to move, Haaland stood over him and accused him of faking the injury. Keane did not forget.
Four years later, in the 2001 Manchester derby, Haaland was now playing for City. Five minutes from time, a ball bounced between them. Keane chose not to go for the ball. He went for the knee instead, studs up, full weight, targeting Haaland's right leg. Red card, a three-game ban and a £5,000 fine.
In his 2002 autobiography he wrote about the incident. "I'd waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there, I think. Take that you cunt. And don't ever stand over me again sneering about fake injuries."
The book earned him another five-game ban and a £150,000 fine. He expressed no remorse. "Even in the dressing room afterwards, my attitude was, fuck him. What goes around comes around."
The 1999 Champions League semi-final against Juventus is arguably his greatest ever performance. United were 2-0 down in the second leg, 3-1 down on aggregate. Keane scored to pull one back, drove his team forward relentlessly, and when after picked up a booking that ruled him out of the final, United came back to win 3-2.
Keane watched the final from the stand. He has described it as the worst experience of his career.
In November 2000, Manchester United beat Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 at home in the Champions League. It was a nervous, scrappy performance, and whenever Dynamo had the ball, Old Trafford went silent. Keane walked to the post-match interview and said what he thought.
"Our fans away from home are fantastic, I'd call them the hardcore fans. But at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch. I don't think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell football, never mind understand it."
The press turned it into a phrase that now defines an entire species of football supporter, the "prawn sandwich brigade." referring to people who attend football games in luxury, because it is fashionable, but have no genuine interest in the game.
For a decade, the personal rivalry between Keane and Patrick Vieira defined the matches between Manchester United against Arsenal. They played each other twenty times. Both won seven. Every match between them was an event in itself. Keane had once controversially criticised Vieira's decision to play internationally for France instead of his country of birth, Senegal. Vieira later suggested that Keane was not in any position to comment, since walking out on his national team in the 2002 World Cup.
In February 2005 at Highbury, Vieira had gone after Gary Neville in the tunnel before kickoff, warning him to leave Robert Pires alone during the match. Keane heard it, turned, and came back. Referee Graham Poll had to physically intervene to keep them apart. As Vieira was led away, Keane shouted after him: "I'll see you out there." United won 4-2. Keane later noted, with some satisfaction, that most people who talk about the tunnel incident can't remember the actual score.
Vieira admitted in 2024 that the confrontation had been planned on his side. He also said that playing against Keane was probably the best period of his career. "Every single game we played against each other, it was like you have to be ready for it. He's going to go for it. I have to be prepared." Two men who hated each other and made each other great at the same time.
Then the 2002 World Cup in Japan. Ireland's training base in Saipan had no proper facilities, a dangerous pitch, broken equipment. Keane, already furious, gave an interview to the Irish Times criticising the setup.
Manager Mick McCarthy confronted him in front of the squad, holding up a copy of the newspaper. Keane replied furiously: "Mick, you're a liar, you're a fucking wanker. I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person. You can stick your World Cup up your arse. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country. You can stick it up your bollocks." McCarthy replied: "Roy, either you go or I go, and I am going nowhere."
Keane went home.
His dog Triggs became briefly the most famous Labrador on earth as television crews broadcast his daily walks live on rolling news channels. The Irish prime minister offered to mediate. The country divided almost literally in two. A musical comedy about the incident became a box office smash in Ireland. In 2026, a film about it was released, with Steve Coogan as McCarthy and Éanna Hardwicke as Keane.
He later became the most entertaining pundit on British television. Commenting on Rooney's declining form: "getting worse, the more I see of him". On managers celebrating draws: "you've lost a point, what exactly are you celebrating?" On supporters waving scarves at games: "tourists who shouldn't be there if they can't handle it." and so on.
During all of his career, on and off the pitch, he simply said what most people were thinking, but nobody else would dare to say in public.
Happy birthday Keano. 🍀
Naseeruddin Shah is a good actor, and nobody cannot or should not deny it. Rajesh Khanna, on the other hand, was never a good actor, but he was a superstar, and he resonated with the masses. Amitabh Bachchan was a good actor as well as a superstar.
Amitabh Bachchan was a good actor, but not as good as Naseeruddin Shah. Naseeruddin Shah didn't have the personality or the charisma of Amitabh Bachchan or even Rajesh Khanna.
People like Naseeruddin Shah are good to watch if you want to watch good acting, but as an actor, my choice would be Amitabh Bachchan because of the way he did comedy. I don't think Naseeruddin Shah could have carried off what Amitabh Bachchan did in many movies.
This brings to my mind Manna De. As a singer, Manna De was far better than Kishore Kumar and even Rafi, but he was not versatile like them. No matter what song he sang, you could always feel that Manna De was singing or he was trying to prove something.
Kishore Kumar and Rafi, on the other hand, or even Mukesh, could merge their voices with the actors.
The same thing happens with Naseeruddin Shah. No matter what part he is playing, he is always being Naseeruddin Shah.
For that matter, even Kishore Kumar was far, far better than Naseeruddin Shah.
🗣️ George Best's story about Ferenc Puskás in Australia:
“I was with (Bobby) Charlton, (Denis) Law, and Puskás, we were coaching in a football academy in Australia. The youngsters we were coaching did not respect him including making fun of his weight and age.
We decided to let the guys challenge a coach to hit the crossbar 10 times in a row, obviously, they picked the old fat one.
Law asked the kids how many they thought the old fat coach would get out of ten. Most said less than five. Best said ten.
The old fat coach stepped up and hit nine in a row. For the tenth shot, he scooped the ball in the air, bounced it off both shoulders and his head, then flicked it over with his heel and cannoned the ball off the crossbar on the volley.
They all stood in silence then one kid asked who he was, I replied, "To you, his name is Mr. Puskás".”
Sachin Tendulkar in test cricket in low scoring games, particularly the games where the runs per wicket has been <= 30:
35 & 57 vs 🇵🇰, 1989, Match avg was 29.92
111 vs 🇿🇦, 1992, Match avg was 28.5
122 vs 🏴, 1996, Match avg was 27.09
136 vs 🇵🇰, 1999, Match avg was 25.9
117 vs 🌴, 2002, Match avg was 26.92
61 & 36 vs 🇿🇦, 1996, Match avg was 26.86
92 vs 🌴, 1997, Match avg was 20.95
61 vs 🇦🇺, 1999, Match avg was 28.28
97 vs 🇿🇦, 2000, Match avg was 18.83
69 vs 🇿🇼, 2001, Match avg was 26.19
76 & 65 vs 🇦🇺, 2001, Match avg was 26.36
71 vs 🇦🇺, 2008, Match avg was 29.4
56 vs 🇵🇰, 2007, Match avg was 28.14
32 vs 🇳🇿, 2002, Match avg was 14.08
51 vs 🇳🇿, 2002, Match avg was 18.83
74 vs 🌴, 2013, Match avg was 28.8
62 vs 🇦🇺, 2007, Match avg was 28.4
Quite a catalogue of knocks in low scoring games.
Amerika ' da 15 yaşındaki bir çocuk marketten ekmek çalarken yakalandı. Kaçmaya çalışırken bir de raf kırmış.
Cocuk tutuklanmış ve mahkemeye çıkartılmış.
Kararı vermeden önce hakim çocuğu da duymak ister.
Hakim: ′′ Neden çaldın? ′′
Çocuk: ′′ Ekmeğe ihtiyacım vardı. ′′
Hakim: ′′ Çalmak yerine ekmek alamadınız mı?"
Çocuk: ′′ Satın alacak param yoktu."
Hakim: ′′ Ailenden para isteyebilirdin. ′′
Çocuk: ′′ Evde sadece annem var. Annem hasta ve işsiz. Sırf bunun için biraz ekmek ve peynir çaldım."
Hakim: ′′ Sen küçüksün, normalde işin de yok. ′′
Çocuk: ′′ Yıkama üzerinde çalıştım. Bir hafta önce anneme hizmet etmek için izin aldım ve bu yüzden kovuldum. ′′
Hakim: ′′ Yardım isteyecek yeriniz ,kimseniz yok muydu? ′′
Çocuk: ′′ Her gün evden çıktığımda herhangi bir iş için eleman arayan en az elli adresle iletişime geçiyorum ama, başarısız. Sonunda hırsızlık yapmaya karar verdim. ′′
Çocuğun ifadesinin ardından hakim kararını açıkladı:
-" Çalmak, özellikle EKMEK çalmak çok utanç verici bir suçtur. Ve işte hepimiz bu suçtan sorumluyuz. Bu odadaki herkes ve ben de bu suçtan sorumluyum.
O zaman tüm mahkeme katılımcıları 10 $ ile ceza alacak. Siz her biriniz 10 $ gönderene kadar kimse mahkeme salonundan ayrılmayacak."
Hakim de 10 $ ' ını verdikten sonra aç çocuğu polise teslim eden markete de 1,000 $ para cezası verdi.
Kararı duyduktan sonra çocuk gözyaşlarını tutamadı ve ikinci karar okunurken hakimi görünce heyecanlandı.
Hakim gözyaşlarını saklamaya çalışarak, salonu terk etti. Hakimin son sözleri bunlardı:
-"Bir kişi EKMEK çalarken yakalanırsa, o cemaatin, toplumun, devletin tüm insanları utanmalıdır."