What really happened between Keane and McCarthy? Saipan film released

Éanna Hardwicke plays Keane, the Irish captain who left the training camp at the Pacific island after falling out with McCarthy, the team manager, who is played by Steve Coogan.

Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa have co-directed the comedy / drama film, which was released on Friday, January 23.

“I couldn’t believe they wanted to tell the story, 24 years on,” said McCarthy, “I spoke to Steve Coogan. I was a bit disappointed, I was hoping for George Clooney!”

McCarthy said he was not asked for permission but didn’t mind it going ahead, and tried to guide Coogan as to what happened from his point of view.

But what really happened in Saipan that was so dramatic it is being remembered more than 20 years on?

What really happened between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy?

Roy Keane, then 30, had played a vital role in Ireland’s qualification to the 2002 World Cup, which was hosted in Japan and South Korea.

The Irish captain, who was also Manchester United skipper, was at the heart of the midfield as they made it out of a group that contained Portugal and the Netherlands.

Irish fans couldn’t wait to see how their side, led by former captain McCarthy, would get on as they prepared to play in a group alongside Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Cameroon.

But, beneath the surface, tensions were simmering and about to explode.

A long-running feud

Mick McCarthy was a tough-tackling centre back who played for a number of top flight clubs in the 1980s and early 1990s.

He was also a long-time captain of Ireland, including for the early years of Roy Keane’s time in the squad, but was born and brought up in Barnsley, gaining Irish citizenship through his father. This was something that would cause a rift as time went on.

Keane, 12 years younger and born in Cork, southern Ireland, was a hotshot for Nottingham Forest and had just signed for Manchester United when he played under Jack Charlton at the 1994 World Cup in the US.

Two years later, McCarthy was appointed manager and already the young Keane was said to be ever pressing to make the Irish set up more professional, with football often seen as a poor relation to Gaelic football and rugby in the country.

Qualification wobbles

Keane was instrumental throughout 2001 as Ireland defied the odds to hold Portugal and defeat the Netherlands to finish second in their qualification group, without losing a game.

But the game in Holland was the first sign of Keane’s irritation, as he later wrote in his autobiography that the team was left to eat cheese sandwiches in their preparation as they had been told that a preferred pasta meal was not possible.

Ireland then overcame Iran in a qualification play-off, with Keane playing the first leg in Dublin but then being ruled out with an injury for the reverse in Tehran five days later. This was not a detail that McCarthy would forget.

Clinton Morrison, who was in the Irish squad, said that the pair had history that dated back to when Keane was late to get on a bus, which led to McCarthy becoming angered.

In order to complete rehabilitation in Manchester, Keane had missed a testimonial organised by his Irish team mate Niall Quinn between Sunderland and Ireland, a warm up match to raise money for charity.

Journey to Japan

Problems began before the Irish team plane had even left Dublin, as Keane was unhappy that the players were on business class seats and Irish FA officials were seated in first class.

“The trip is a shambles from the beginning,” Keane wrote in his book, “Dublin airport is packed, you can’t move.”

He added that players were required to change en route at Amsterdam, while their rival teams enjoyed a non-stop flight to Japan.

“We hump a month’s luggage through the main concourse. Check ourselves in. We’re travelling KLM, going the scenic route, via Amsterdam and Tokyo.

“Fans, journalists, players, officials all mingle together. The package tour image comes to mind again. Amid the chaos, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, arrives to give us a send-off.”

According to the Guardian, it was on this flight that Keane watched the Will Smith film Ali, and a seed was planted at seeing how Muhammed Ali refused calls to join the draft for Vietnam, putting his own convictions first.

Clinton Morrison later said that Keane was able to negotiate to get the players into the higher echelon of travel and than henceforth they were always in first class.

Arrival in Saipan

Keane was unhappy at needing to take a three hour and 45 minute flight from Tokyo to Saipan, the largest of the US-controlled Northern Mariana Islands, for their training base.

The Irish were set to be in Saipan for one week, at the end of May, and after the long haul and a strenuous club season, only light training sessions and relaxation had been planned.

But after touching down, the team discovered their training kit, footballs, and medical supplies had all been lost in the transit.

McCarthy later said that the pitch wasn’t right and the kit was a day late, although the Saipan experience had been planned as a “jolly” with silly shirts and a barbecue.

Training surface too hard to play on

When the kit did finally arrive two days later, Keane and co. set about training, only finding the pitch was far too hard, the captain likening it to a car park.

A Fifa liaison officer is said to have told them that they did not know the Irish team was going to come, and that it would have been watered if they had got the heads up.

The next day, however, the pitches were still too hard, apart from one corner, which was absolutely flooded.

Lee Carsley and Steve Finnan both picked up injuries, Keane admonished goalkeeper Alan Kelly as he, and other keepers Shay Given and Dean Kiely for refusing to join the rest of the squad for a session, being too tired, having already done a session.

Keane then took McCarthy to one side and told him that he wanted to go. But after McCarthy called up Celtic midfielder Colin Healy as his replacement, the captain then told the manager he had reversed his decision, minutes before he was about to fax it to Fifa for final confirmation.

“He met McCarthy before the World Cup, and he said, ‘I want the pitches, training facilities and everything to be good or I will not come,’” Morrison said.

“Mick said it would be good, but it was the worst training pitch I had ever seen.”

Keane’s interview with the Irish Times

Shortly after he agreed to stay, Keane agreed to sit down with Paul Kimmage of the Sunday Independent, and Irish Times reporter Tom Humphries also sat in.

Humphries went back on an agreement to wait for Kimmage’s article to publish first and the Irish Times printed the article, which featured Keane’s complaints about the Irish FA and the facilities.

“You wonder why players get injured?” Keane was quoted as saying. “Well, playing on a surface like that... It's rock hard. One or two of the lads have picked up injuries... But you know, we're the Irish team, it's a laugh and a joke.”

“I’ve come over here to do well, and I want people around me to want to do well. If I feel we’re not all wanting the same things, there’s no point,” he added.

Morrison added that McCarthy had told the team that they should not be doing any press or interviews while they were at the holding camp.

The team meeting

McCarthy read the article and decided to confront Keane in a team meeting, where he brandished a copy of the article and said, “What’s all this about then?”

A war of words then escalated, which resulted in McCarthy accusing Keane of faking an injury to get out of the second leg of the World Cup play-off against Iran in Tehran.

At this, Keane had had enough and unleashed an X-rated verbal onslaught at his manager.

“Mick, you're a liar … you're a f***** w****r. I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person.

“You're a f*****g w**** and you can stick your World Cup up your a**e. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your b******s.”

He also called the manager an “English c***,” and said: "I’ve got no respect for you.”

According to Quinn, the tirade went on for ten minutes and left the players speechless.

Morrison added: “I never saw anything like it in football.

“The worst bit was when he said to McCarthy, ‘You are not even Irish, you’re English’. And me and the other boys who were born in England put our heads down.”

What happened next?

McCarthy announced to the press that Keane had been sent home. Steve Staunton was named as the new captain.

Ireland played on, qualifying from their group and reaching the round of 16, where they lost against Spain in a penalty shootout.

Keane flew home and played no part in the World Cup. He was filmed several times over the next few weeks walking his dog Triggs near his home in Manchester.

He did not return to play for Ireland for two years, appearing next in 2004 when Brian Kerr had replaced McCarthy as manager. The two men appeared to have reconciled in 2006, shortly after Keane had retired as a player.

When asked about regrets of his career, Keane said in 2013 that he wished he had stayed and played. “It would have been nice to play, a lot of people were disappointed, particularly my family,” he said.

McCarthy said last year: "I'll probably watch it... Maybe I'll get someone else to watch it first so I can see how I come out of it."

He added: "I don't think we [himself and Keane] would go out of our way to chat to each other."