Keane not sure he can forgive Ferguson
ROY Keane has admitted he does not know if he will ever forgive Sir Alex Ferguson after branding criticism of some of his former Manchester United players “ridiculous”.
Keane takes aim at the Scot, who lifted the lid on his differences with Keane and David Beckham among others in his autobiography last year, in his updated memoir The Second Half.
The 43- year- old, who accuses Ferguson of being “childish” in his dealings with him towards the end of his illustrious Old Trafford career, was pulling no punches at the official launch of his book.
Asked if he would ever forgive the former United boss, Keane said after a pause: “Good question. I’m not sure, I’m not sure.
“Football is a small world and eventually, you will cross paths with people again. Whether I would ever bump into him or not, whether it be at a game or sometimes there are conferences going on...
“The problem, I suppose, I had and one of the reasons when you are writing stuff and you are reflecting on it, is that when you have worked with somebody for such a long time – and obviously we had our disagreements and I departed, and I have no problems with that, it’s fine – it’s afterwards when people start coming out with all sorts of nonsense.
“For Alex Ferguson, not just to criticise myself, but other players who were part of a team that brought some good days to lots of supporters, for him to criticise that when you think of what he made out of it – he made millions of pounds out of it...
“He got his statues, he’s got his stand named after him – to come back and criticise...
“I said at the time, I wasn’t too bothered about myself, but to criticise people who brought him success was just ridiculous.
“Will I ever forgive him? I don’t know.
“Listen, I don’t know. We’ll see if we ever cross paths again. I’m sure we will – cross paths, I mean.”
Keane uses the book, in which he takes aim at a variety of targets, and explains his decision to reject Celtic’s approach to become their manager, to set the record straight.
He was mentioning no specific names, but was keen to hit back at what he described at the “lies and lies and lies” he believes have been told about him.
Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert refused to shake Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s hand as he prepared to head down the tunnel before the end of his side’s 3- 0 defeat by the Blues last month, and his assistant Keane’s reaction was even more withering.
Asked about the incident, Keane said: “It’s disgraceful. I’ve seen him doing it to other managers – it is a disgrace. The game is still going on.
“You wouldn’t do that on a Sunday morning, you would get knocked out.”