Milton Keynes Dons goalkeeper Tom McGill found himself on the receiving end of a Roy Keane tirade following his team’s defeat to Salford City on Monday.
Canadian stopper McGill, who joined MK on loan from Brighton over the summer, was between the sticks when his team travelled to Moor Lane. Frankie Okoronkwo scored the only goal of the game, but it was McGill’s behaviour in the latter stages which appeared to irk Keane.
The former Ireland and Manchester United midfielder, now a pundit, spent a brief spell as a manager with Sunderland and Ipswich after ending his playing career. Based on his response, it’s fair to say he wouldn’t have appreciated what he saw on Monday night.
Keane’s animated reaction to McGill’s patient efforts to play out from the back drew laughter from fellow pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher in particular. However, the Irishman wouldn’t be stopped from having his say.
“The craziness I find when players are coming up playing out the back when they’re losing,” Keane said on the Stick to Football podcast. “The goalkeeper was coming out, he was taking seven or eight touches…
“I was going to hang around the dressing room after the match and see the MK Dons goalkeeper and ask him, going ‘you know when you’re losing with 15 minutes [left]… you’re f***ing losing!'” This prompted laughter from Neville and Carragher, but Keane wasn’t done.
“You know in American sports, the time out. After 70 minutes you just do the time out,” he continued, making a ‘T’ gesture with his hands. “The lads will come over to you and you can go ‘Lads, you know we’re losing, you have to get the ball down there’.
“[You see] 19 passes. MK Dons. Who do you think you are? Get it forward. It’s as if they don’t know what the score is,” he added. Then, turning towards Salford co-owner Neville, Carragher said with a smile “Those are the opinions of Roy Keane and not Salford FC.”
