Former Republic of Ireland captain Roy Keane has lifted the lid on his quarrel with Mick McCarthy which saw him sent home before the 2002 World Cup.
The infamous bust-up between the pair occurred while the team were preparing for the upcoming 2002 World Cup on the Japanese Island of Saipan.
The facilities were so poor that the team arrived without footballs and Keane did not hold back on McCarthy’s handling of it.
After much drama, angst, and conflict, Keane, who was, without a doubt, Ireland’s best player at the time, left the camp before the start of the tournament, much to the anger and dismay of the Irish.
McCarthy and Keane’s two-decade-long feud was dredged up again this year with the release of Saipan, which sees Steve Coogan and Eanna Hardwicke star as the manager and captain of Ireland on a fateful pre-World Cup trip.
And now with the 2026 installment of the competition just days away, Keane has spoken out on the dispute on his Sky Bet World Cup mini-series with Micah Richards, Road To America.
Roy Keane has opened up on his feud with Mick McCarthy in a Wolrd Cup series special with Micah Richards
Keane was famously sent home by McCarthy beofre the 2002 World Cup after a disagreement in Saipan
‘Given everything that had happened with Ireland over many years, there was always going to be a tipping point,’ Keane said. ‘I could not have done anything differently and I have no regrets. Do I wish it had happened? Of course not. But if a manager calls a player out in front of an entire squad, I am going to react.
‘We had already moved on from issues surrounding the training kit and were due to fly out to the FIFA training camp the following morning. Even Kevin [Kilbane], who would probably be considered closer to Mick’s side of the argument, later said he could not believe Mick had not spoken to me privately.
‘I have been a player, and I have been a manager. If Mick McCarthy had come to my room that night and said, ‘What happened earlier was wrong, let’s sort it out,’ it would have been over immediately. Throughout my career, whenever somebody has reached out and tried to resolve an issue, I have always been willing to shake hands and move on.’
While Keane was devastated at having to miss out on that World Cup, even 24 years on he believes he acted in the right way.
Keane added: ‘Leaving the World Cup was heartbreaking. It was devastating for my family and caused enormous stress, particularly for my mother. But if the exact same circumstances happened tomorrow, I honestly do not think I would act any differently.
‘My conscience is clear. I wish it had never happened, but I believed I was standing up not just for myself, but for future generations of Irish players. If younger players had been forced to fight those battles, I would have felt I had failed as captain and as a senior player.
‘If Mick McCarthy had knocked on my door at three or four in the morning and said, “Let’s sort this out,” I would have been ready immediately.
‘Sometimes in life you have to put your hand up, even when you do not believe everything is your fault. That works both ways. Had that happened, the situation could have been resolved very quickly.’
The disagreement sent shockwaves through not only Ireland, but the rest of the footballing world.
However, Keane believed that had it happened following a random friendly match, ‘nobody would have cared’.
The midfielder was deemed one of the best midfielders in the world at the time of the incident and added that ‘the easiest thing for me would have been to keep quiet’ but ‘would have felt more guilty’ had he decided to ignore the issues.
He continued: ‘People often talk about qualifying for the World Cup, but my standards were always higher than that. I wanted us to do things properly.
‘There were members of staff and players who came to me privately and said they agreed with what I was saying, but they wanted to play in the World Cup. I understood that completely. It was not their battle.
Keane said he was fighting for simple standards ahead of what was such a big tournament
‘Afterwards, things improved. Players travelled differently, standards improved and certain issues were addressed. There was even an independent review commissioned by the Football Association of Ireland and it was highly critical of both the organisation and aspects of the management.
‘That is why I reject the suggestion that I was looking for trouble or acting out of ego because I played for [Manchester] United. The easiest thing for me would have been to ignore everything.’
Keane also recalled a fixture against the Netherlands during qualification for the tournament in which there was ‘virtually no proper food’ for the players before the game.
‘I went over to Mick and the staff and asked where the food was,’ he said. ‘We were not talking about luxury meals or spending huge amounts of money. We were talking about basic preparation and having pasta available for professional footballers.
‘When someone told me that I should have asked for it, I reminded them that I already had. My point was simple: why should players have to fight for basic standards?
‘That was always my mindset. When I later became part of Martin O’Neill’s staff with Ireland, one of the first things I spoke about was making sure preparation was right because that is something you can control.
‘When people ask whether a bowl of pasta would have made us a better team, the answer is no. But why should we not have the same professional standards as countries such as Germany or Brazil? Why should we accept less?’
