'He punched me' – Roy Keane admits manager he 'loved' took a swing for him

Brian Clough may have punched Roy Keane in the chest after the ex-Ireland captain made a mistake that resulted in an FA Cup clash being replayed, but Keane still "loved" the iconic manager.
Keane, 53, is best known for his fiery performances at Manchester United, but many say Clough was the one who moulded him into the player he became. The legendary Nottingham Forest manager was known for his unpredictable behaviour and temper, particularly in the dressing room.
Keane joined Forest in 1990 from Cobh Ramblers and went on to become one of the most sought-after young midfielders. Much of his development was down to many hard lessons he learned under Clough.
One of those ended with the legendary manager punching him, after a mistake from Keane led to Forest drawing to Crystal Palace at the City Ground in an FA Cup third-round replay in 1991. Offering an insight into Clough's man-management during a recent appearance on the Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: "He (Clough) played mind games sometimes.
"If you got beaten, you'd think he's going to go after you and then he'd go the other way and go, 'Have a few days off.' If you'd won a few, you'd be going, 'Listen, (I think we'll be getting) a couple of days off' and he'd be like, 'No, you're all in tomorrow.' He'd definitely be playing mind games.'
Keane then turned to ex-Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley, who was widely known as 'Big Norm' at the time, and said: "We (had) the incident with me, you and the Crystal Palace goal where he punched me after the game. He'd give me days off and he'd be brilliant.'
Disaster struck for Keane when his short back-pass to Crossley led to the keeper scuffing the ball to Palace ace John Salako, who looked up and lobbed Crossley in the final moment of the game. The game finished 2-2 after extra-time and Clough was furious, as Forest had already drawn 0-0 with Palace in their first FA Cup meeting.
As there were no penalty shootouts in the FA Cup at the time, a second replay had to be scheduled, leaving Clough furious. While Crossley admitted he should have done better with his clearance, Clough did not see it that way. The Corkonian midfielder said: "I'm looking and it was honestly like slow motion. You know about not upsetting the manager because we all loved Brian Clough. He gave us a chance like Norm did for me.
"I remember John Salako got it and I'm looking at Norm running back. John Salako, what would he have been? Forty-five yards out? (I thought) 'Norm get back. He's f***ing not getting there'. I swear, as soon as I heard it hit the net...
"He (Clough) blamed me for the back pass and it was the cup game. So then we went to a replay and he wanted the game done and dusted there. I think it ended up going to, three replays or something.
"So he had the thought of having a free weekend and was going, 'Now I've got to go to London, all the way to London to play Palace in the cup game that we hadn't won.' So he blamed me after the match.'
Turning to Crossley, Keane said: "I don't think you said much after the game. You just let me take the wrap for it. He (Clough) just punched me in the chest.'
Keane made 148 appearances for Forest between 1990 and 1993. He would eventually leave the City Ground to move to United, in a deal worth €4.45million, which was a British record at the time.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Irish Times

an hour ago

• Irish Times

Kevin Prendergast, influential trainer, dies aged 92

The death has taken place of the classic winning trainer Kevin Prendergast. He was 92. He enjoyed a more than 60-year career as a trainer based on the Curragh during which time he won eight Irish classics and became the doyen of his profession. Prendergast also won the 1977 English 2000 Guineas with Nebbiolo. Part of one of Irish racing's most famous racing families, Prendergast was a son of Paddy Prendergast, a figure that helped transform flat racing in Ireland during the last century and was champion trainer in both Ireland and Britain in the 1960s. Prendergast's eldest son, Kevin, was born in Australia on July 5th, 1932, but grew up in Ireland and became one of the country's leading amateur riders while assisting his father. READ MORE He trained his first winner in 1963 and put well over 2,000 winners through his hands during a lengthy career that continued up to his death. His last runner was in Cork last Friday. The Irish Derby was the sole Curragh classic Prendergast failed to win but one of the best horses in his later career was Awtaad who landed the 2000 Guineas in 2016. He also saddled Madhmoon to finish runner up in the 2019 Epsom Derby. Prendergast was also instrumental in developing the careers of a long list of top jockeys over the decades including Charlie Swan, Kieren Fallon and in more recent years, Chris Hayes.

Irish Times

2 hours ago

• Irish Times

Matt Williams: Lions can't afford to be infected by Irish rugby's sense of entitlement against resurgent Australia

Last weekend proved that 80 minutes of rugby can be a very long time in the professional game. After Leinster's stunning performance at Croke Park , they have gladly passed the chokers' T-shirt to the Bulls, who have now lost three United Rugby Championship finals in four years. At Twickenham, the Premiership final was as enjoyable as getting a tooth pulled, with the highlight being a legendary Michael Cheika sideline blow-up. In Super Rugby, the Brumbies were pumped out of the playoffs by the Chiefs, making it four seasons in a row that the Australian side have departed the Super Rugby competition at the semi-final stage. Leinster would have been glad to get the monkey off their back when it comes to finals. Inside the fortress of the GAA , normal service was finally restored. At long, long last, Leo Cullen's team won the trophy that had evaded them over so many close defeats. READ MORE All of which proves two things. Every team on the planet is only as good as their last game. And winners are grinners while losers can please themselves. In the binary, black-and-white world of knockout rugby, you are either a winner or a loser. Cheika worked wonders in getting Leicester to the English final in his first season. Over the past four years, the Brumbies have consistently performed at an outstanding level despite operating in a dysfunctional Australian rugby environment. In reaching three URC deciders in four years, the Bulls' performance must be described as exceptional. However, the reality is that on their biggest day of the rugby season, the Bulls, the Brumbies and Leicester have all come up short. That does not make them failures . More than any other club on the planet, Leinster understand that sentiment. Have Leinster answered their critics with this URC title win? Listen | 38:05 Across the last five years, Leinster's consistency across both the URC and the Champions Cup has been historic. Despite this, heart-breaking defeats in semi-finals and finals saw many calling for Cullen to be sacked. Sadly, many in the Leinster and wider Irish rugby community possess a deep sense of entitlement. They believed their team deserved to win because they had dominated the competition. This type of thinking denies the basic truth that victory in every match must be earned because, as we have already established, you are only as good as your last match. Leinster head coach Leo Cullen with Jordie Barrett after last Saturday's URC final victory against Bulls. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho The wisdom of the leadership that sits above the coach within Leinster could see that with their incredible consistency, season after season, they did not have a coaching problem. They understood that the club had a problem with players coping under the highest pressure imaginable. As the Lions are jetting off to Australia, Andy Farrell will face a similar problem to Cullen. Everyone in the northern hemisphere believes the Lions are entitled to dominate the series against the Wallabies. Wrongly, they remain fixated with the mess that was the Wallabies' 2023 World Cup campaign. This is understandable, as it remains a compelling case in how not to approach a World Cup. It contained a long, horrendous list of errors in selection and coaching appointments and culminated with the great Wallaby openside flanker, leader and talisman, Michael Hooper, not being selected in the World Cup squad. It remains the greatest selection blunder by the Wallabies in the professional era. [ Australia squad thin on playmakers may come back to bite Joe Schmidt Opens in new window ] It was the final act of two decades of mismanagement by Rugby Australia. The list of stupid decisions the Australian rugby community had to deal with across a 20-year period is hard to comprehend. But those in the north need to understand that there have been sweeping changes since. With former players Daniel Herbert as chairman and Phil Waugh as CEO, Australia have competent leaders with a high rugby intellect. For the first time in two decades, Australian rugby has changed for the better. While there remains a long and rocky path ahead, the game in Oz is moving forward. Resilience is a word that gets tossed about far too easily, but across the last 18 months, I have been astounded at the resilience within Australian professional rugby ranks. Joseph Sua'ali'i will be key to Australia's hopes against the Lions. Photograph:for Rugby Australia While it will take a decade for the full effect of the long-term planning to take effect, the elite end of the game is recovering far quicker than I considered possible. It is recovering to the extent that the Wallabies are capable of calling on a very strong 23 players. With Joe Schmidt in charge for the rest of the year and his successor, Les Kiss, already appointed – backed up with the technical excellence of Laurie Fisher – the Wallaby staff possess vast experience of rugby at a very high level. With the expected return of a number of Australian players from France and Japan, who were unavailable in recent seasons, and the stardust that Joseph Sua'ali'i will provide, the Wallabies will have vastly different personnel than the World Cup of two years ago. More importantly, the Lions will face a contest far more ferocious than many in the northern hemisphere are predicting. Any sense of entitlement from the Lions will be punished in a very public manner.

The Irish Sun

2 hours ago

• The Irish Sun

‘Oh hey friends' – Sharlene Mawdsley's cute snap as she's cheered on at training by GAA ace boyfriend

IT was a case of a Tipperary takeover at the University of Limerick on Thursday as Sharlene Mawdsley partook in a training session there. She was cheered on by two loved ones - one of whom being Advertisement 3 Her dog Lola was the other beloved onlooker Credit: @sharlenem1 3 They watched her from this vantage point as she used the campus' athletics track Credit: @sharlenem1 3 They went public with their relationship last month Credit: @sharlenem1 It's clearly part of the package when you're dating an Olympic athlete. But Breen doesn't seem to mind as he's getting in the habit of sharing snaps whilst "coaching" her. He previously The Ballina man will be racing around the Gaelic Grounds himself as the Premier have an All-Ireland quarter-final date with Galway on Saturday. Advertisement Read More On Irish Sport That 6.15pm throw-in will be preceded by the hurling clash of Dublin and Limerick in Croke Park at 4pm. While both of those premier match-ups will be shown live on RTE Two, there is yet Dublin against Cork will throw-in at the exact same time as Tipp against Galway as it's going to be a Dubs double-header from Jones' Road. The day's other All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final between Kerry and Cavan will also more or less run concurrent with Dublin versus Limerick as that'll be a 3.30pm start. Advertisement Most read in Athletics Aside from heading along in person, both of those affairs will be only available to watch via GAA+. A bumper Sunday will see Ulster champions Donegal and Leinster kingpins Louth face off in Ballybofey at 4pm. 'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter That'll be a repeat of last year's All-Ireland quarter-final which Jim McGuinness' men won 1-23 to 0-18. Galway's prize for Advertisement And Croker will roll out the red carpet for the last four of the Tailteann Cup as Wicklow get the ball rolling against Limerick at 2pm before Kildare's clash with Fermanagh at 4. Mawdsley last competed in Philadelphia In addition to that showing on the Sunday at the big-money Grand Slam Track event, she also came sixth in the long sprints category 24 hours previous. For that performance, she banked $15,000 with Olympic 400m gold medallist Marileidy Paulino coming out on top. Advertisement The 26-year-old wound up in fifth place. Again, she clocked a season's-best time in that race at 51.12. Her next outing is due to take place between June 28-29 in Maribor, Slovenia at the European Team Championships.