For those of you not living in Ireland, its impossible for you to imagine how big the Roy Keane story has been here. It dwarfed the coverage given to the election that had taken place the previous week. It made the front page of quality newspapers for 8 successive days. Radio and TV chat shows discussed nothing else for this period. By comparison, the possibility of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan was a mere footnote. And everyone has an opinion on the matter. I reckon the public are divided roughly 50-50 between blaming Keane and blaming McCarthy/FAI. The debate has quitened down a bit now, because most people feel they should get behind the team while the world cup is on. However, I'd say the debate will start up again as soon as its over.

My own view is that Keane should never have been sent home. What he did is not extraordinary in the footballing world. For example, after their match against Ireland, the Cameroon player Geremi complained bitterly to the press about the way his team have prepared for the event (he mentioned that they had to travel for 7 hours the day before the game). The Cameroon manager hasn't decided to send Gerimi home. Yesterday, the French striker Trezeguet complained that the rest of his team didn't provide him with enough support during their opening match. The French defender Desailly replied through the press today basically saying that Trezeguet himself played very poorly in that opening game. About a week ago in a training game, Sweden's Freddie Ljunberg tried to throttle a team mate. My point is that when you get a large group of people who aren't friends with one another, and force them to spend a month in close contact with one another, occasionally spats will develop. And because of the media today, these are made public, and can quickly get blown out of proportion.

My basic point is that its not Keane's job to be diplomatic. His job is too play football, and he does that very well. McCarthy's job is to manage, which includes a large element of diplomacy. His job is to smooth over any problems the players might have, and make sure that Ireland can field its strongest possible team, with all of the players being as well prepared as possible. McCarthy has failed to do this.

There has been a lot of mis-information in this whole debate. For example, the press have alleged that McCarthy was called 'an English C***' by Keane. However, no-one who was at the meeting in question ever alleged that Keane said this, and Keane has denied it. It is also alleged that the other players are happier without Keane around the place. If that's the case, why did David Connolly approach Niall Quinn on behalf of a number of players, asking him to make an effort to get Keane back. And why did Quinn make that effort, behind the manager's back no less?

Finally to the Keane Vs Beckham debate. Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager in Britain in the last 20 years dropped Beckham for 8 games late last year. Ferguson has never dropped Keane. When Man Utd were struggling last season, Ferguson said that he wished he had 10 Roy Keanes. He's never said that about Beckham. Which is not to say that Beckham is anything other than a great player. And Beckham certainly has attributes to his game which Keane will never have. Its just that when the chips are down, Keane has far more influence over a game than Beckham does. And Keane never has a poor game, which Beckham does.

I should have declared my bias at the start of this posting. I love Roy Keane!

Stephen