The Sun
‘ROY KEANE'S sickening outburst on how he crocked Alf Inge Haaland was officially approved by Manchester United.
Keane's controversial comments on the challenge could now see him sued and even charged by cops.
But United boss Alex Ferguson yesterday backed his captain over the autobiography which reveals that he deliberately tried to hurt Manchester City's Haaland.
You would like to think Keane may have had some regrets for a tackle that has coincided with Haaland playing just one game since an incident that even stunned his besotted admirers (though I seem to recall a large number of them still managed to applaud the Manchester United skipper all the way down the tunnel).’
Richard Williams in The Guardian:
‘Even before a ball has been kicked in the Premier League, the football publishing championship is in full swing, accompanied by the unedifying but lucrative noise of axes being ground, slights avenged, and punches thrown from a safe distance.
Roy Keane, of course, is at the centre of attention, principally for disclosing that his tackle on Alfie Haaland in the Manchester derby last year was committed with intent to injure his opponent - as if anyone who saw it at the time could have been in any doubt.
The more lurid the anecdotes, the more money the newspapers will pay. And because serial rights are usually split between publisher and author, the former will please the company accountants by getting a good chunk of the advance back before publication, while the latter will make some extra dosh for no extra work whatsoever. And a prominent serialisation, preferably one that provokes continuing news coverage, acts as a more effective sales tool than any number of good reviews.’
Football is not flower-arranging. It has always been a physical game and so it must remain. But a balance must be maintained, and there is a feeling that, thanks to the achievements and reputations of players such as Keane, Patrick Vieira and Steven Gerrard, the desirable equilibrium is under threat.
Players are such fast and powerful athletes nowadays that the pitch has become a very crowded place. No one is given time or space to dwell on the ball. There is a premium on the ability to anticipate an opponent's pass and dispossess the recipient before he has had time to take control. Between the strong men of midfield, such as Keane, Vieira and Gerrard, the battle is at its fiercest and most heavily symbolic.
Keane versus Haaland came into that category, and the Irishman did not so much walk across the threshold of unacceptable conduct as drive a tank through it. His "honesty" in admitting the nature of his intentions is simply a way of making more money from what - even if it was not directly responsible for Haaland's subsequent injury problems - amounted to an assault occasioning actual bodily harm. It seems astonishing that Manchester United's representatives should have read a copy of the manuscript and endorsed its publication.’