BBC SPORT | Football | Quinn: Keane savaged McCarthy

Niall Quinn has described how Roy Keane's "systematic and clever destruction" of manager Mick McCarthy led to his dismissal from Ireland's World Cup squad.

Keane was sent home after a heated exchange with McCarthy during a team meeting days before the beginning of Ireland's campaign, and the fall-out from the controversy continues.

Mick was standing there but he may as well have been lying on the floor with towels around him

Niall Quinn

Keane says he will not play for his country until there is a change of manager.

McCarthy, meanwhile, is thought to be ready to take the vacant managerial post at Sunderland because of the criticism he has received in Ireland over his decision to oust his captain.

McCarthy favourite for Sunderland role

Quinn, who backed McCarthy's decision in the aftermath of events in Sapporo, said Keane's dismissal was inevitable given the content of his diatribe.

"Keane's speech was a wonderful delivery if you wanted to execute someone verbally," Quinn told BBC Radio Five Live.

"If he'd practised it for six months, he wouldn't have got it as right as he did on the night.

"Mick was standing there but he may as well have been lying on the floor with towels around him."

Quinn describes the incident in his new autobiography in which he also details McCarthy's response to Keane's 10-minute speech.

"While lying on the ground wounded, Mick came out with the one thing he had left which was 'do you pick and choose your games?'" said Quinn.

"Mick was getting savaged and he made an attempt to stop the blood - maybe looking back it wasn't the perfect thing to do."

Alex Ferguson (left) separates Roy Keane and Sunderland's Niall Quinn
Quinn was rebuffed by Ferguson when he tried to approach Keane

Keane played the first leg of the World Cup qualifier play-off against Iran but did not travel to the second leg due to injury, a situation which was brought up by McCarthy during the debate.

"The damage was done by the time McCarthy said that," said Quinn.

"Everyone in that room knows that Roy Keane was out of the World Cup before Mick came out with that statement."

But Quinn believes Keane will live to regret missing out on the showcase event in Japan and Korea.

McCarthy: Keane rift can't be healed

"There has to be some kind of black hole in his life where he didn't play in a World Cup and he could have earned the right to be known as a legend for the right reason," said Quinn.

"Whenever I get caught up in it, I think that however hard it is for me it must be a hundred times worse for him.

"Maybe if Roy made just one reconciliatory gesture, I know Mick and I'm sure he'd be man enough to carry it through and get the show back on the road."

'Lousy timing'

Quinn, now retired from international football and currently a coach at Sunderland, said he and Keane were yet to reconcile their differences.

Quinn attempted to approach Keane after the Man Utd captain was sent off against Sunderland in August but he was stopped by United manager Alex Ferguson.

"I haven't spoken to Roy since the World Cup," he said.

"My timing was lousy (after Keane was sent off) but I had spoken to my solicitor, who also represents Roy, and we had agreed to shake hands publicly to try and move on.

"The timing was very wrong, I admit that, but Alex Ferguson misread the situation."


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