One chapter from Roy Keane’s career we will never forget is his battle with Alfie Inge Haaland after the former Premier League striker left a nasty challenge on him in a clash between Manchester United and Leeds in 1997.
It was that moment that led to Keane’s revenge, four years later, when the two players would meet in the Manchester Derby. The former Manchester United captain didn’t think twice as he went in high on Haaland, who contrary to rumours, went on to play for Norway a few days later.
Dave Fevre, who was senior physio at United when Keane ruptured cruciate knee ligaments following Haaland’s lunge, tried to play against medical advice.
“His mind wasn’t on the injury,” Favre told FourFourTwo. “I assessed his knee and thought: cruciate. When we went to the hospital, we sat there, watching Blankety Blank on TV. He turned it off and said: ‘So, Dave, what the f**k’s going on?’
“I told him that I thought he’d done his cruciate, but we were waiting for a specialist. ‘So let’s get the f**k on with it!’ he said. You don’t operate in the first week, because you need to get the swelling down.”
“A week on, the swelling had settled and Roy was determined he could play on. I told him, ‘Roy, I’m not being funny, but…’ He said, ‘No, no, I’ll be able to play – I want to go and try it’. We went to play basketball, but his knee just buckled.”
Even during his time on the sidelines, Keane always gave the impression that he was there for his teammates.
Favre tells a story about Manchester City duo Uwe Rosier and Alan Kernaghan joining them for a pool session. As you can imagine, Keane wasn’t impressed.
After Keane and Favre discussed the coming together, they were quick to come to the conclusion that this showed why the Irishman was captain of Manchester United and not playing for City.
