The Words That Sent Keane Back Before the FA

“I'd waited long enough. I hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that.” Roy Keane wrote those words in his autobiography about the tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland. They were a published account, not an independent finding about intent. But they put Keane's own language beside the challenge at Old Trafford in the April 2001 Manchester derby, where the BBC described him as catching Haaland high and late on the knee.

The referee sent Keane off. The tackle was described as knee-high and late, and Keane was receiving the standard three-match suspension for violent conduct. That was the immediate football punishment. The red card marked the act on the pitch; it did not resolve the questions that followed it out of the stadium.

Greater Manchester Police took the matter into a different system after complaints from a small number of witnesses. The tackle was crime-recorded, and officers interviewed both Keane and Haaland. Police then forwarded a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service. A challenge that had begun with a whistle and a red card now sat in a file for prosecutors to consider.

The CPS decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Keane over the tackle. Police had reached that position before the autobiography prompted a review, and no prosecution followed. The decision closed the criminal route as reported; it was not a finding that the tackle was harmless or properly motivated.

The book changed what officials had to examine. The Football Association said it wanted to see the autobiography “in its full context” before making a decision. Police also said they would review the evidence again after publication. The new material was not another witness or a different view of the tackle. It was Keane's account in print, including comments tied to deliberately hurting Haaland.

The FA brought two charges of bringing the game into disrepute. One related to the tackle itself. The other related to Keane making money by writing about it in his book. The Independent reported that the FA claimed the book supplied new evidence that the tackle was “improperly motivated.” After a day-long hearing at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, the FA found Keane guilty on both counts and imposed a five-match ban and a record £150,000 fine. The punishment was subject to appeal, and the ban applied to domestic matches only.

After the verdict, Maurice Watkins appeared with Keane and Sir Alex Ferguson in a brief press conference. The police and CPS route had ended without a prosecution. The football case left Keane with a domestic ban and a £150,000 fine, imposed after the words he had put in his book.