KEANE FACES FA CHARGE AND BAN
From the Sun:
The FA will charge Keane with misconduct as soon as the player's controversial autobiography goes on sale in a fortnight.
And, in a bid to send out a strong message to the rest of football, they intend to impose a ban on Manchester United's captain rather than a fine.
Keane could be out for around four games to match the original punishment for the challenge.
While the foul itself cannot be dealt with again, the FA take a dim view of what they see as glorifying the incident in his book.
The FA are waiting to charge Keane only because they have not seen the article themselves and have had to rely on the serialisation. But, as long as what they have already read is there, the player will be charged and a date fixed for the case to be heard.
The FA are already under pressure from Manchester City, who wrote to ask the FA why Keane had not been given a heavier punishment for the challenge.
Meanwhile the Beeb counters:
The Football Association has denied that it has made a decision to charge Roy Keane for his much-publicised challenge on Alf-Inge Haaland.
The FA has delayed a decision over any possible ban for the United captain until his comments, serialised in the national press, have been confirmed. And FA spokesman Adrian Bevington insists that stance has not changed.
"The situation has not changed at all. We are waiting for the book to be published before making any decision.
"It would be pure guesswork to predict any possible ban and the newspapers which ran these stories were told that on Tuesday."
From the Telegraph:
Manchester City have attacked claims that they have backed down on their legal action against Manchester United and confirmed they will support midfielder Alf-Inge Haaland in his compensation case against Roy Keane.
City had reportedly been told by specialist lawyers that the case, which surrounds Keane's infamous challenge on Haaland in April 2001, was a lost cause and that they risked humiliation by pressing the claim in court.
However, a source at the club yesterday confirmed that City have not yet appointed a firm of solicitors to represent them in the action and therefore had certainly not taken any outside advice that they should drop the case.
"To suggest that we would back down after deciding to go ahead with the case is nonsense," said the source. "We have not been advised by our lawyers not to go ahead simply because we haven't yet taken that step of selecting a leading law firm."
The club's case against Keane will combine evidence of the player's "intent" to injure Haaland - which was revealed in serialised extracts from the United captain's controversial autobiography - as well as evidence of the effect of the reckless challenge during the match.