I’m fed up with Roy Keane and his coiled-spring fury

WE NEED to talk about Roy. Why does this country tolerate the naked aggression, abysmal managerial track record and downright rudeness of the man who walked out on the team he was captaining in the World Cup 16 years ago? After destroying our World Cup chances by throwing his toys out of the pram in Saipan and humiliating the nation over some macho row with manager Mick McCarthy, Keane is then rewarded by the FAI, which gift him the plum, part-time job of assistant manager to Martin O’Neill.

When I first met O’Neill 10 years ago, he was the height of civility and humility, but in recent years some of Keane’s bad manners have rubbed off on him, especially when it comes to his handling of the media.

Am I the only one completely fed up with the coiled-spring aggression of Keane?

Appearing on the all-male World Cup panel on ITV this week, he let rip at Iranian manager (and former Manchester United assistant coach) Carlos Queiroz with his trademark venom. ‘I should have ripped his head off,’ he blurted, over some perceived slight years ago.

(By the way, why do we tolerate all-male World Cup panels? Who do they think they are, the MacGill Summer School?)

Of course, Keane’s aggression should not come as a surprise. After all, this is the man who all but ended Alf-Inge Haaland’s career in 2001 with a savage tackle.

Keane went on to boast about the tackle but then later changed his story.

Without an ounce of contrition for his own team’s failed World Cup campaign, Keane now supplements his massive income from his parttime Irish role by spouting aggressive inanities on any TV show that will pay him.

For many in Ireland, I know he is still a hero, though the reasons are lost in the mists of time and constantly escape me. Halfway through 2018, we already know that this year will be remembered historically as a time when the role of women in all walks of Irish life began to be properly acknowledged.

We are a better society for it, less aggressive, more humane and compassionate.

So do we need Keane’s macho anger, which never stays pent up – especially in a sport where so many young people treat players as role models?

One of the hallmarks of the World Cup so far has been the lack of aggression on the pitch, the camaraderie between opposing players and the absence of injuries. Not exactly Roy Keane’s hallmark .

But I know that despite my protestations, our love affair with Roy will continue, even as the world around him leaves him behind.