April 21 – Keano’s Horror Tackle

IT’S likely that somewhere on the Old Trafford pitch there’s still of bit of Alf-Inge Haaland’s knee lying dormant from Roy Keane’s infamous tackle that took place in the Manchester derby today in 2001.

The pair had a spot of history, dating back from the Norwegian’s goading of Keane during his time at Leeds United four years earlier when Keane went down with a snapped cruciate ligament.

With Keane lying on the ground at Elland Road after he attempted to tackle Haaland, the Leeds defender implied that he was faking injury to prevent the referee from brandishing a card his way.

Like an elephant, Keane obviously never forgets, and when he came up against Haaland in the Manchester derby four seasons later he chose his time for revenge.

With five minutes remaining Keane struck. Who better to describe the incident that the man himself?

“I’d waited long enough,” Keane later recounted in his autobiography. “I f**king hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c*nt. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.”

One of football’s more obvious red cards followed, as did a three game ban and £5,000 fine from the FA. That was that, at least until Keane’s bombastic autobiography, ghosted by Irish pundit and expert agitator Eamon Dunphy, was released in August 2002.

Keane’s revelations resulted in a charge of bringing the game into disrepute and saw him banned for another five games and fined £150,000. Haaland, meanwhile, whose career had effectively been ended by the tackle and a host of other injuries, considered suing Keane.

Showing little regret for the challenge Keane went on to say: “My attitude was, f**k him. What goes around comes around. He got his just rewards. He fucked me over and my attitude is an eye for an eye.”

Funnily enough, this wasn’t Roy Keane’s only contribution to the annals of football history today, so check out what else he was up to here and join us tomorrow for more footballing history.