Roy Keane was involved in a heated exchange with an Ipswich Town supporter last month
Roy Keane insists he had no intention of fighting an Ipswich Town supporter who abused him after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw at Portman Road last month.
The confrontation occurred after the full-time whistle as Keane stood by the side of the pitch with the rest of Sky Sports’ broadcast team.
During an advert break, Keane left the Sky Sports podium and approached a group of fans in the lower tier who had been shouting abuse at him.
In a video clip recorded by another Ipswich fan stood further back from the argument, Keane could be heard telling one man: ‘Wait in the car park, we can have a discussion. I’ll wait for you in the car park.’
A member of security then put his arm in front of Keane and led the former Manchester United captain back towards his Sky Sports team, which included presenter Kelly Cates and former England women’s international Izzy Christiansen.
Keane’s fellow Sky Sports pundit, Jamie Redknapp, was seen looking concerned and he also spoke with the same Ipswich fan after Keane had been ushered back to the side of the pitch.
Another member of security then told the group of Ipswich fans to ‘calm down’.
When the subject of Keane’s run-in with the Ipswich fan was brought up on The Overlap, Ian Wright said: ‘I was quite angry about that, Roy.’
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But Keane has dismissed suggestions that he was offering to fight the Ipswich fan.
‘Don’t laugh, I wasn’t angry,’ Keane said.
‘I was calm, I went over to the guy twice. What happens when we’re doing matches, they send us down [to the pitch] after the game where fans can be up or down, whatever, emotional, and people think they can abuse you, it seems to be that we’re supposed to be able to accept that.
‘I went over to him twice and said, ‘no problem, if you want to abuse me or if you want a discussion with me but I’m working’. I went over to him twice at different stages, obviously [he’s] swearing in front of kids, I said, ‘if you want to see me afterwards’, and people thought I was asking him out, I said, ‘I’ll see you in the car park’.
Roy Keane insists he wasn’t angry during his confrontation with the Ipswich Town fan (The Overlap)
‘But can I ask you a question – where else was I going to see him?
‘They were obviously asked to leave the ground, I’ll meet you in McDonald’s? I’ll meet you in the car park.
‘It was to have a chat. I’m not offering somebody out, I’m 53 years of age with five kids and two grandkids… and he wasn’t there.
‘I was calm, honestly that wasn’t me getting angry.
‘There were other idiots in the car park, there were other people hanging around. But I don’t get it, and obviously the angle people have is that I was asking people out for a fight.
‘Bizarrely I had that as well last year at Arsenal but thank god a judge could see through the nonsense and realised I was assaulted. It was weird, honestly I wasn’t angry, I was just saying, ‘see you later’… I was calm.’
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