ROY KEANE has revealed how he once gave fellow Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel a black eye after a boozy night out.
The stars were two of the most vocal characters inside the dressing-room during the 1990s as the Red Devils climbed back to the top under Sir Alex Ferguson.
But the club’s former captain Keane has now admitted that both Fergie and club icon Sir Bobby Charlton were left mortified after a hotel bust-up between the former midfielder and goalie.
Keane, who recently snubbed a return to Sunderland as manager, said: “When I was injured and I came back Peter Schmeichel didn’t want to give me the captaincy so there was a bit of tension between us.
“Good tension. We don’t like each other but I’m glad you’re my goalkeeper, you know what I mean.
“We were on pre-season, drinking as usual until three or four in the morning. I said something to Peter and he was waiting for me outside of the room.
“I went back to Nicky Butt’s room for a club sandwich, really exciting stuff. There was no women or heroin, it was a club sandwich.
“I came out of the room and Peter’s waiting and he says ‘I’ve had enough of you!’.
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“I remember I was coming round and I was thinking ‘you’ve had enough of me? Let’s get it on’.
“Obviously we had a fight. It seemed like ages, but I’m guessing it was like two or three minutes.”
Keane, now a hugely-popular Sky Sports pundit, continued: “Believe it or not Nicky Butt was involved, Butty’s always on the scene.
“If something’s going on Nicky Butt’s there somewhere. Good or bad he’s on the fringes — sort of like when he played.
“The next morning, I’m rooming with Denis Irwin, and this is the funny bit because we’re late for the bus. Denis Irwin is the most straight guy, I reckon he still goes to Mass every Sunday, so straight.
“Denis is going ‘Roy, we’re late’ and I’m saying ‘Denis, f***ing shut up will you. You’re giving me a headache’.
“We’re getting our bags ready, he’s shouting at me and my hand was really sore. I said to Denis ‘I’m sure I was fighting last night, but I can’t remember’.
RAGING FERGIE
“We get on the bus and Ferguson’s going mad. I get to the back of the bus and ask Butty what happened.
“I say ‘I vaguely remember, was I fighting with Peter?’ And Peter had glasses on and this is early in the morning.
“We land wherever we go on to. There’s a press conference and two players had to do it and it was me and Peter.
“Eventually Peter takes his glasses off and he’s got a bit of a black eye.
“Ferguson pulled us when we got back to Manchester; he was mad and said ‘the two of you are a disgrace to the club and you’re going to get fined’.
“He says Sir Bobby Charlton was on the same floor as us and said we were a disgrace, I was thinking ‘he could have broke the fight up!’”
However, The Mirror states that Keane added: “Honestly, we had a great dressing room. Peter’s held his hand up since, again it was a late night believe it or not. It’s never over breakfast is it.
“To be fair to Peter, I’ll give him a little bit of credit, he said ‘gaffer, gaffer, it was my fault, I was waiting for him’. So he took the fall for it and after that we were okay.
“It was good to get rid of that tension between us. It was a good fight.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
