Roy Keane admits shock at being punched by person he ‘loved’ – ‘He blamed me for it’

Roy Keane has opened up on the time he was punched by a former manager in the dressing room, after making a huge mistake in his early years as a player

The late Brian Clough once punched Roy Keane in the dressing room, but that did not stop the fiery Manchester United legend from loving him. Before he became the explosive Red Devils captain that won everything there was to win, Keane played under Clough at Nottingham Forest, where he received the iconic manager’s own brand of tough love.

The two-time European Cup winner was the man who brought Keane to England, signing the Irishman from Cobh Ramblers in 1990. Keane quickly rose to prominence as one of the most promising young talents in European football.

His journey under Clough was marked by many hard and, at times, physical lessons. One of those was brutally inflicted after an FA Cup third-round replay against Crystal Palace in 1991, where Keane made an error that led to them drawing at the City Ground.

Reflecting on Clough’s unique approach to 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 reminisced about a stunning incident involving him and former team-mate Mark Crossley, who is widely known as ‘Big Norm’ around football. Keane turned to Crossley and added: “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.”

One of Keane’s worst moments as a player came in the final minutes of that FA Cup clash, when his short back-pass resulted in Crossley fluffing a clearance to Palace star John Salako, who proceeded to lob in an equaliser to force another FA Cup replay.

At the time, penalty shootouts were not part of the FA Cup, so Keane’s error meant Forest had to face Palace in the competition for the third time that season. Re-living that painful moment, Keane added: “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 (Clough) 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 at Forest between 1990 and 1993. He eventually left for United in a then British record £3.75million deal.

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