Gary Neville Reveals Details of Meeting That Effectively Ended Roy Keane's Man Utd Career
Gary Neville has recalled the details of a Manchester United team meeting that effectively spelled the end of Roy Keane's career at Old Trafford.
Keane joined United in 1992 and spent the majority of his time at the club as captain, but went on to leave after his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson became damaged beyond repair.
Speaking to Off the Ball, Neville admitted that he knew Keane's time was up after Ferguson grouped the United squad together to watch an interview where Keane had been highly critical of his teammates.
"I'd seen this happen to David Beckham over a period of six to eight months at United," Neville said. "With Roy and the manager, there was always a chance that it would come to this. The manager came down into the dressing room and the minute he said we needed to watch the video, I just thought that's it.
"I knew Roy, I knew the manager and I just thought that was it," he added. "That meeting was horrific when we watched the video. It's not funny, honestly, it was horrific.
"For lads in the dressing room who were at the club 10, 15 years, to see this happening was horrific. You couldn't say anything, you were just thinking, 'for f***'s sake', you knew that was it."
Interestingly, Neville - who was appearing at the event alongside Keane - went on to point out that the player's didn't necessarily have an issue with the Irishman's comments - despite seeing the interview first hand.
"From our point of view as players, we didn't have a problem. We'd worked with Roy for 12 years and I think his interview after Bayern Munich [in 2001] was actually worse.
"Would Roy Keane the manager have gotten rid of Roy Keane the player after that meeting? I think you [speaking to Keane] would."