‘Before you knock Roy Keane remember he has to be given an A for honesty as well as an A* for villainy for admitting he went out to get Alf-Inge Haaland.
Players do that every week. But they never own up, and they usually get away with it because the Football Association's disciplinary system is far better at nailing a bit of backchat to a fourth official than a serious piece of grievous bodily harm.
Keane has written an honest autobiography. Let's at least praise him for that. Aren't you sick of all the guff we get palmed off with elsewhere? However, his candour has thrown down a gauntlet to the authorities that they can't ignore.
As things stand, Keane is a three-time winner: for the attack on Haaland which he is chuffed to bits about, for the limited penalty he got for it and for the big money he has made from serialisation rights based on sensational revelations.
The issue then is a simple one: should a star footballer get away with admitting an assault which would have landed him before the magistrates if it had happened outside the Dog and Duck on a Friday night?
Besides, all football fans, not just Manchester United supporters, should feel peeved you can pay a bloke £70,000 a week to kick a ball around, but he'd still rather kick an opponent and to hell with the consequences for the team.
There's every reason for the FA to take up the cudgels, though their weasel words about waiting for the book to come out to see the whole picture hardly inspires confidence.
Making an example of Keane would be a strong demonstration of a proper resolve to clean up the game. But make no mistake, Keane is being punished for his honesty not his brutality. Others equally culpable will continue to escape unpunished because they'll never let on.’