sport news The truth of Roy Keane's feud with the Haalands: What it's REALLY like when ... trends now
Departures at Manchester Airport, summer 2001. Alfie Haaland is on his way to Ohio, where a specialist awaits at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic to perform surgery on a knee complaint.
A member of the public mutters something in his direction. It's football-related and presumably has something to do with the recent Manchester derby at Old Trafford.
The Manchester City captain turns. 'Yeah, I'll just get Roy Keane's studs out of my knee,' he says, still sore from the assault inflicted by his Manchester United counterpart in late April.
The surgery keeps him out for six months. Failure to recover fully from it effectively ends his career, Haaland playing just 48 minutes professionally across four substitute appearances before calling time.
Now Keane's ugly lunge, a straight leg spearing into the Norwegian and sending him cartwheeling, does not enforce retirement on its own. It harms Haaland's right knee and in Ohio, they operate on the left. A knee is dependent on the other one though and Keane hasn't helped matters. Haaland later puts having to hang up his boots months after that horror tackle down to 'a great coincidence', said with a large dollop of irony.
Erling Haaland (left) and his father, Alfie (right) have long been involved in a feud with Roy Keane
Keane (pictured) has slated Erling in recent weeks, branding him 'a spoilt brat' and a 'League Two player'
Haaland, meanwhile, hit back, saying he 'doesn't really care much about that man' when asked on the comments
Keane's callous challenge halfway up Haaland's leg is retribution after four years of festering anger at the way the City man reacted to the United midfielder's own ACL damage in 1997. 'Take that, you ****,' Keane wrote of the tackle on Haaland in his incendiary autobiography.
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A four-year feud at that point. More than long enough. But in this story, we are now 27 times around the sun. And the child born nine months before that balmy afternoon in Stretford, when the Keane mist descends and to hell with the wreckage, is bang in the middle of it all.
March, 2024. City 0-0 Arsenal. Erling Haaland – the Premier League's top scorer, the best striker in the world – is double-marked by William Saliba and Gabriel for 90 minutes. He is afforded just 23 touches all afternoon, registering four shots.
A drab game. Arsenal sit in for a point, one they hope will inch them closer to a first title in two decades. In the Sky Sports studio up in a corner of the Etihad Stadium, one particular air kick of Haaland's at the back post is discussed. Alongside Micah Richards and Theo Walcott, Keane – the neutral pick on the punditry panel - sits and delivers his verdict.
Just like in 2001, his eyes are not on the ball. Instead, fixated solely on the man. 'The level of his (Haaland's) general play is so poor,' Keane says, easing back in his chair. 'Not just today. His laying stuff off, headers, whatever it might be - is so poor.
'In terms of in front of goal, he's the best in the world. But his general play is so poor. He's almost like a League Two player. That's how I look at him. His general play has to improve and it will do.'
Rightly or wrongly, other former professionals – some of them among the very best – offer similar about Haaland Jnr's general build-up play and pundits in the game maintain there is merit to what Keane says. There is an acceptance from the striker himself that he can improve and there have been signs this season that he is making strong strides in that area of his game. In the days after Keane's explosive remarks, Pep Guardiola praised his No 9's ability to occupy two centre halves against Arsenal in a way that ought to have opened space for those behind him.
The belief by pundits though is that Haaland seems way short of his best. But there is a key difference between Keane and the rest. None of other pundits, even privately, go as far as the 'League Two' description. Loaded in a way that had somebody with knowledge of the situation joking that he'll still be picking arguments with Alfie's grandchildren if that opportunity ever arises. Even if it isn't, it all feels and looks a bit personal. 'There is that needle,' one source says.
When Keane and Alfie were playing, they clashed twice, with Keane looking for apparent revenge on the Norwegian
Years later, the rivalry between the Haalands and Keane was reignited when Keane slammed Erling after his performance against Arsenal
Keane had said after the game: 'In terms of in front of goal, he's the best in the world. But his general play is so poor. He's almost like a League Two player'
Yet those who know Keane, the affable character off camera to his Machiavellian persona when the lights are on, insist all this is for the show, that he bears no grudge or ill-feeling.
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'He's a pantomime villain - that's the role assigned to him,' another source says. 'What Keane was alluding to was how he can use his body better. The whole League Two thing was said for effect but he has no problem with the Haaland family at all. He says a lot of things for effect without meaning it. Can you imagine him doing an advert dressed as a clown 10 years ago? Never. Now he knows exactly what he is doing.'
This all helps Sky. All over the newspapers, websites, social media. Keane's 'done his job', a dry line he often likes to trot out about footballers. Guardiola has to respond so the story runs for a day or two.
Last weekend, Erling himself was the one grilled about it. Viaplay, the Norwegian broadcaster, put the League Two stuff to him. It had, after all, dominated the news cycle back home in much the same way as here. 'I don't really care that much about that man, so that's all right,' he answered pointedly. It had
