ROY KEANE - IRELAND - 0041

An edition that sold out almost immediately.

When called up for his first game at international level, an U-21 match against Turkey in 1991, Keane took an immediate dislike to the organisation and preparation surrounding the Irish team, later describing the set-up as "a bit of a joke." He would continue to hold this view throughout the remainder of his time spent with the national team, which led to numerous confrontations with the Irish management. Keane declared his unavailability to travel with the Irish squad to Algeria but was surprised when manager Jackie Charlton told him that he would never play for Ireland again if he refused to join up with the team. Despite this threat, Keane chose to stay at home on the insistence of Forest manager Brian Clough, and was pleased when a year later he was called up to the Irish squad for a friendly. After more appearances, he grew to disapprove of Charlton's style of football, which relied less on the players' skill and more on continuous pressing and direct play.

Keane was included in Ireland's squad for the 1994 World Cup in the USA and played in every game, including a famous 1-0 victory over tournament favourites and eventual finalists, Italy. Despite a second-round exit at the hands of Holland, the tournament was considered a success for the Irish team, and Keane was named the best player of Ireland's campaign. Keane, however, was reluctant to join the post-tournament celebrations, later claiming that, as far as he was concerned, Ireland's World Cup was a disappointment: "There was nothing to celebrate. We achieved little."

The Irish FA selected the training base for Ireland's World Cup campaign. During the course of the first training session, Keane expressed serious misgivings about the adequacy of the training facilities and the standard of preparation for the Irish team. He was angered by the late arrival of the squad's training equipment, which had disrupted the first training session on a pitch that he described as "like a car park".

After a row on the second day of training, Keane announced that he was quitting the squad and that he wished to return home to Manchester due to his dissatisfaction with Ireland's preparation. The FAI were unable to get Keane an immediate flight home at such short notice, meaning that he remained in Saipan for another night, but they called up a replacement for him. The following day, however, McCarthy approached Keane and asked him to return to the training camp, and Keane was eventually persuaded to stay.

Despite a temporary cooling of tensions in the Irish camp after Keane's change of heart, things soon took a turn for the worse. Keane immediately gave an interview to a leading sports journalist where he expressed his unhappiness with the facilities in Saipan and listed the events and concerns which had led him to leave the team temporarily. McCarthy took offence at Keane's interview and decided to confront Keane over the article in front of the entire squad and coaching staff. Keane refused to relent, saying that he had told the newspaper what he considered to be the truth and that the Irish fans deserved to know what was going on inside the camp. He then unleashed a verbal tirade against McCarthy^.

In a press conference after the event, McCarthy announced that he had dismissed Keane from the squad and sent him home. By this time, the FIFA deadline for naming the World Cup squads had passed, meaning that Colin Healy was unable to be named as Keane's replacement and could not play in the tournament.

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