Jill Scott was astounded when she learned how much Roy Keane’s bad behaviour cost him during his playing days.
The former Manchester United captain was no stranger to controversy during his trophy-laden career which saw him lift the Premier League title a whopping seven times.
Known for his no-nonsense attitude, Keane became embroiled in a series of fracas on the pitch, including a high-profile incident with Newcastle striker Alan Shearer.
When counting the costs of their fines as players, The Overlap panel made up of former Lioness Scott, Keane, Gary Neville and Ian Wright were left stunned by their fellow podcaster’s admission.
Arsenal legend Wright revealed his biggest fine came after a crude gesture to fans at the end of a match which set him back a cool £17,000 and police intervention.
Neville’s biggest hit came during Manchester United’s last-gasp winner over Liverpool at Old Trafford in 2006 where he was accused of baiting the away supporters following Rio Ferdinand‘s crucial goal.
The former right-back ran towards Liverpool fans whilst holding the Manchester United badge, a move that he says cost him £10,000.
And whilst Scott admitted bans in the women’s game peaked at around £50, she was left astounded at what was to come from Keane.
“You had a quarter of a million, didn’t you?,” Neville said to Keane to which the Irishman validated.
“I had some big ones,” Keane continued without going into detail about the circumstances surrounding them.
“Shut up, you what? A quarter of a million? Scott said, to which Keane jokingly replied ‘go big or go home, Jill.’
Keane’s most memorable spat came in a long-winded feud with Manchester City’s Alfie Haaland in 2001.
the overlapJill Scott was left stunned by Keane’s admission[/caption]
The combative midfielder planted a high challenge on his rival’s left knee during a Manchester derby at Old Trafford, which saw him sent off.
It was the result of a feud that happened in an earlier game, when Haaland was at Leeds and goaded a stricken Keane, who was floored with a serious injury and ruled out for months.
Keane didn’t receive his punishment until a year later upon the release of his autobiography when he admitted he had deliberately set out to hurt Haaland.
He was handed a five-match ban and a record £150,000 fine by the Football Associated after being found guilty of two charges of bringing the game into disrepute.
On another occasion, Keane was fined £150,000 after he was sent off for elbowing Jason McAteer in a match between Sunderland and Manchester United in 2002.
The then United boss Sir Alex Ferguson initially backed Keane claiming it was an innocuous collision and claimed McAteer had “gone down as though he had been shot in the back of the head”.
But on review, Ferguson took the decision to withdraw his support for his captain and revealed that Kane would face internal disciplinary action on top of the automatic three-match suspension.
“The replay I was shown directly after the game was misleading,” Ferguson said. “When I saw the pictures on Saturday night from a different angle I saw the referee had no choice but to send him off.
“It was clear that Roy caught him on the side of his head and, as such, we won’t be appealing. I still say it was petty rather than grievous and that Roy did not swing his elbow. But I can see he definitely connected with it. Therefore Uriah Rennie had no option but to show a red card.”
Keane and McAteer were international teammates with the Republic of Ireland but tensions grew between the pair around Keane’s infamous departure from the Ireland camp ahead of the 2002 World Cup.
Up until the flashpoint between the pair at the Stadium of Light, things were relatively settled.
However, McAteer produced a tackle on Keane that angered him and the United captain swung an elbow at his compatriot.
Keane was said to have ‘called Jason everything under the sun’ in the aftermath of the incident to which McAteer told him to put it in his next book whilst miming the action.