Poppy protest footballer James McClean has opened up on an explosive clash he had with Roy Keane during his international career with the Republic of Ireland.
McClean, 37, won 103 caps for his country between 2012 and 2023, and came across Keane while the former Man United hardman was assistant manager to Martin O’Neill from 2013 to 2018.
And, writing in his autobiography The Walls, as serialised in the Irish Independent, McClean reflected on what it was like to work with Keane.
Noting that there were a few ‘outbursts’ and ‘flare-ups’, the winger revealed how they had a bust-up at half-time of a post-season friendly against Mexico in New Jersey in June 2017.
It was a game that Ireland lost 3-1 after an under-strength team struggled to cope with their opponents as several players, including McClean – who was captain and at left-wing back – were playing out of position.
‘Martin had just finished his bit when Roy came over, got right in my face and started f***ing me out of it,’ recalled McClean.
James McClean opened up on a brutal bust-up he had with Roy Keane on international duty
Keane was incensed after McClean posed on the pitch with Irish boxer Michael Conlan
‘”Look at you, the f***ing captain, f***ing giving off, yeah? You were taking pictures before the game with f***ing Mick Conlan. Your head isn’t f***ing on it”.’
McClean explained that following the pre-match warm-up he had posed for a photo on the side of the pitch with Michael Conlan, an Irish professional boxer who was a friend of his, after which he ‘saw Roy staring over’.
McClean, who had given away a penalty in the first half, didn’t hit back at Keane at the time, but inside he was ‘spewing over it for the entire flight home’ and tried to nip the issue in the bud.
Keane initially ‘brushed it off’ before he visited McClean in his room while he was doing a gym session.
McClean added: ‘I sat on the bed as he leaned on the desk table and went off on another one. He accused me of having a big ego.
‘He said he’d never been critical of me in the press or around the group, and now, the first time he’d said anything, I’d pulled him up over it. Then he started going off about the Lamborghini at Sunderland, which was f***ing six years earlier. I was thinking he must have been seething for the afternoon, gathering information.’
The Lamborghini reference was in relation to McClean’s time at Sunderland when O’Neill, then managing the Black Cats, had allegedly dropped the winger after he found out about him buying a ‘f***ing three-hundred-grand’ supercar.
The clash came at half-time of Ireland’s 3-1 defeat by Mexico in a summer friendly in June 2017
In their conversation, Keane also admitted he often went ‘home and screamed into the pillow’ because the ‘standard was so poor’ in training during his time with Ireland.
After defending his attitude in a tete-a-tete with Keane, McClean outlined his respect for the assistant boss and how much he cared about playing for his country.
McClean continued: ‘He said the photos didn’t look like good preparation. I disagreed, and it went around in circles a bit until we just said we’d leave it.
‘Roy was sound with me after that; I knew he couldn’t have any complaints with my performances. I scored in our next match, a friendly with Uruguay, and did a selfie celebration afterwards to make my point.’
