It seems to be a source of constant irritation to many journalists that mellow, laid-back, entirely reasonable Sunderland manager Roy Keane bears little or no resemblance to the caricature of snarling, cloven-hoofed, pointy-tailed ogre they insisted on sketching throughout the Irishman's playing career. And while Keane's decision to cut loose yesterday by popping caps in the a$$es of anyone connected with the notoriously shambolic Republic of Ireland set-up will have reassured these scurvy hacks, their relief was probably tempered by the fact that he chose to do so while performing charidee work for Irish Guide Dogs and playing with a puppy on his knee.
Tickling the tummy of an ickle Labrador that was so cute and cuddly it caused one resident of Fiver Towers to gouge his own eyes out with a spoon, Keane was withering in his criticism of the FAI (again), Stan "Steve" Staunton (again) and several senior players who haven't exactly been pulling up trees lately (again). "There's a fine line between loyalty and stupidity," he begorrahed in his lilting Leeside brogue. "You've got to be loyal to lads who've done OK. But to keep playing them on reputations they've built up through the media or because they do lots of interviews, that's wrong." But mindful of what happened last time he named and shamed under-achieving slackers, Keano wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
"Robbie [Keane] is doing OK at Tottenham, John [O'Pie]'s in and out at [the Rowdies], Duffer's at Newcastle. Who else? Shay's at Newcastle," he scoffed, as if to suggest that footballers that sign for Newcastle are somehow lacking in ambition. And while we'd love to write more about Keane's attack on what he sees as the FAI and Staunton's blatant pro-Dublin anti-Cork selection policy bias, news has just reached us that Stan has since launched a verbal counter-attack: "Roy has got his own opinions and they are his opinions. I'm here to deal with Ireland," he quipped, cementing his reputation as County Louth's answer to Oscar Wilde. "Roy has done a wonderful job at Sunderland, that's his job but I've got mine to do here." Wars of words don't come more one-sided than this, and if Ireland's players show the same stomach for a fight as their manager this weekend, he won't have a job to do for much longer.
Tickling the tummy of an ickle Labrador that was so cute and cuddly it caused one resident of Fiver Towers to gouge his own eyes out with a spoon, Keane was withering in his criticism of the FAI (again), Stan "Steve" Staunton (again) and several senior players who haven't exactly been pulling up trees lately (again). "There's a fine line between loyalty and stupidity," he begorrahed in his lilting Leeside brogue. "You've got to be loyal to lads who've done OK. But to keep playing them on reputations they've built up through the media or because they do lots of interviews, that's wrong." But mindful of what happened last time he named and shamed under-achieving slackers, Keano wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
"Robbie [Keane] is doing OK at Tottenham, John [O'Pie]'s in and out at [the Rowdies], Duffer's at Newcastle. Who else? Shay's at Newcastle," he scoffed, as if to suggest that footballers that sign for Newcastle are somehow lacking in ambition. And while we'd love to write more about Keane's attack on what he sees as the FAI and Staunton's blatant pro-Dublin anti-Cork selection policy bias, news has just reached us that Stan has since launched a verbal counter-attack: "Roy has got his own opinions and they are his opinions. I'm here to deal with Ireland," he quipped, cementing his reputation as County Louth's answer to Oscar Wilde. "Roy has done a wonderful job at Sunderland, that's his job but I've got mine to do here." Wars of words don't come more one-sided than this, and if Ireland's players show the same stomach for a fight as their manager this weekend, he won't have a job to do for much longer.
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