Roy Keane has delivered the verdict on all of the red cards he was shown during his time at Manchester United.
The legendary midfielder was no stranger to the colour red, as he was sent off 11 times during during his 12-year stint at Old Trafford.
Seven of those were in the Premier League, where he was one off joint record holders Richard Dunne, Duncan Ferguson and Patrick Vieira.
Speaking on the Overlaps’ Stick to Football podcast, he defended his record after clashes with the likes of current England boss Gareth Southgate and Erling Haaland‘s father Alf-Inge.
His first red card came for a stamp on then Crystal Palace defender Southgate back in 1995, in which Keane said the England boss ‘deserved it’.
Roy Keane has given his verdict on all 11 of his red cards he was shown at Man United (second right)
His first red card was against Crystal Palace in 1995 as he stamped on Gareth Southgate (bottom right) – and has insisted the current England manager ‘deserved it’
His most famous tackle was on Erling Haaland’s father Alf-Inge back in 2001, and he has claimed the ‘somersault’ the Man City star did made it look worse than it actually was
Keane also swung a punch at Middlesbrough’s Jan Age Fjortoft who grabbed hold of his face, though the ex-Manchester United star insisted he ‘didn’t connect’
Former referee David Elleray showed Keane four red cards during his playing career
Keane said: ‘Gareth deserved that. Gareth lunged at me. Gareth’s nasty, everyone seems to think Gareth’s a nice guy. He tried to break my leg!’
He also recalled the one that ‘everyone remembers’ when he caught Haaland’s father with a knee-high foul – which ultimately led to the Norwegian’s retirement after an ACL injury.
Speaking on the challenge against the Man City player, Keane pointed the finger of blame at United team-mate Gary Neville.
‘You didn’t help either running off to the linesman saying it’s only a yellow [card],’ a smirking Keane explained. ‘Gary ran over saying it’s only a yellow so when you say that to an official he’s going to go ‘well that must be a red’
Neville was left in stitches by Keane’s theory before replying: ‘So I’m at fault for your sending off?’
Keane responded: ‘I don’t think that tackle was that bad. I was never going to injure him with that kind of a tackle, he does a somersault and it looks kind of worse.
‘When you’ve played the game you know when someone’s trying to injure a player. It’s just when someone does a somersault it looks worse than what it was.
‘It was a silly game, it was a rubbish game. We were all frustrated we’d just been knocked out of Europe a couple of days before it.
Keane is held back by referee Uniah Rennie from confronting Jason McAteer back in 2002
Keane was sent off in 2002 for throwing an elbow at Republic of Ireland team-mate McAteer (right)
He had numerous clashes with Alan Shearer (right) once being sent off after throwing a ball and then attempting to lash out at him
Keane ‘enjoyed’ a reckless challenge he put in on Gus Poyet during the 2000 FA Charity Shield
‘I’d done my cruciate up at Leeds. Obviously, I tried to trip him and he was stood over me when I did my cruciate, it was a bad injury and he was saying some nasty things when I was injured. I thought well obviously we’ll meet again.’
Keane, was handed a five-match ban and £150,000 fine for the challenge.
The Irishman also once received a red card for attempting to punch Middlesbrough’s Jan Age Fjortoft in a game back in 1997.
Keane swung a punch after the forward grabbed his shirt, and though Fjortoft immediately held onto his face, the ex-Manchester United star denied that he connected with the hook.
He said: ‘That was a bit silly, I tried to punch him. I didn’t connect.’
Keane joked he was ‘covering for Gary Neville’ after he was sent off an ‘unfortunate’ second yellow in their famous FA Cup semi-final win over Arsenal in 1999
Keane’s last red card for United was against Porto in 2003, insisting that he ‘felt bad’ after stamping on Porto keeper Vitor Baia
On his patchy discipline record, he added: ‘I don’t regret any of them. Obviously the one everyone remembers is the Haaland one. I got sent off at Newcastle a couple of times with your [Ian Wright’s] mate Shearer.
‘Sent off at Blackburn, sent off once for Ireland, I was sent off in the Charity Shield against Chelsea. No regrets with them.’
On The Overlap, he also suggested that former referee David Elleray ‘looked down on him’.
Elleray had sent Keane off four times in his career, more than any other referee, and the Irishman believed that there was more to it than him simply breaking the rules.
Speaking about one of his red cards from the referee, Keane said: ‘I think I was covering for you (Neville). David Elleray looked down on me, he was a school principle at some posh school and I was Irish.’
