A video from 12 years ago of Roy Keane’s scathing remarks about a Michael Carrick interview has gone viral as the origin of their feud.
On Thursday, the Man United legend took an extraordinary cheap shot at Carrick’s wife, Lisa Roughead, during the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast.
‘His wife can always come in [if Carrick doesn’t do well], cause she’s got a bit of a big mouth sometimes. She’s probably doing the team talk,’ he said, sparking a huge reaction among fans online.
Keane’s jibe has reopened old wounds after his brief spat with Lisa back in 2014 and internet sleuths have dug out the footage that sparked it all.
In the clip, Carrick gives a post-match interview to ITV’s Gabriel Clarke after Man United’s dreary 2-0 defeat by Olympiacos in the Champions League.
Carrick looks deflated and says: ‘It’s everyone involved, it’s how we’re judged and we know that. We’re still in the tie, we’re going home, we’re not out of it at all so we look forward to the second leg.’
Presenter Adrian Chiles then addresses pundits Keane and Lee Dixon, saying: ‘He looks about as amazed as the rest of us at what we’ve just seen, sort of just shocked.’
Keane replied cuttingly: ‘That interview was just like their performance, flat.’
Chiles then came back, saying: ‘What do you want him to do, fall at Gabriel’s feet crying?’
‘Well, say a bit more. A bit more urgency in even his interview. That just reflected United’s performance tonight, flat, no urgency.
‘They keep saying, “next game, next game”, for some of them there won’t be another game for them, that’s the reality for it,’ a stony-faced Keane retorted.
After watching Keane’s reaction to her husband, Lisa took to social media and wrote: ‘Roy Keane what a ****, says anything to provoke a reaction.’
She then hastily deleted her post and regretfully added: ‘Deleted my tweet… Emotions got the better of me.’
On Thursday, the feud was reignited. Keane had been speaking about the predictability of the messages to players delivered by new bosses and shared an anecdote from his time in charge of Sunderland when he effectively chose to ignore his group for the first two days.
‘At Sunderland I didn’t speak to the players for about two days when I went in. Just watched training. Keep them all guessing,’ he said.
‘You don’t have to do a big speech, that’s all very predictable. I thought I’d give them a couple of days just to chill out.’
It was after this that he dived into the somewhat unnatural segue of bringing up Carrick’s wife and there was some laughter around the table of pundits, with Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Jill Scott also on the episode.
Carrick and Lisa began dating when they were at school and tied the knot in 2007. They have two children together – Louie and Jacey, who is in the United academy.
Earlier in the episode, Keane had taken a swipe at the selections Carrick made for his backroom staff, citing the lack of coaching experience of Jonathan Woodgate and Jonny Evans.
He’ll be supported along the way by his wife, who has been by his side for 29 years
The 44-year-old tends to avoid the limelight and helps run the Michael Carrick Foundation to support disadvantaged children. She previously had her own Pilates business.
No doubt there will be plenty of other opportunities for Keane to critique the Man United interim boss, who begins his short reign with a tough game against Man City on Saturday.
