'He punched me' – Roy Keane admits manager he 'loved' took a swing for him
Brian Clough may have punched Roy Keane in the chest after the ex-Ireland captain made a mistake that resulted in an FA Cup clash being replayed, but Keane still "loved" the iconic manager.
Keane, 53, is best known for his fiery performances at Manchester United, but many say Clough was the one who moulded him into the player he became. The legendary Nottingham Forest manager was known for his unpredictable behaviour and temper, particularly in the dressing room.
Keane joined Forest in 1990 from Cobh Ramblers and went on to become one of the most sought-after young midfielders. Much of his development was down to many hard lessons he learned under Clough.
One of those ended with the legendary manager punching him, after a mistake from Keane led to Forest drawing to Crystal Palace at the City Ground in an FA Cup third-round replay in 1991. Offering an insight into Clough's man-management during a recent appearance on the Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: "He (Clough) played mind games sometimes.
"If you got beaten, you'd think he's going to go after you and then he'd go the other way and go, 'Have a few days off.' If you'd won a few, you'd be going, 'Listen, (I think we'll be getting) a couple of days off' and he'd be like, 'No, you're all in tomorrow.' He'd definitely be playing mind games.'
Keane then turned to ex-Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley, who was widely known as 'Big Norm' at the time, and said: "We (had) the incident with me, you and the Crystal Palace goal where he punched me after the game. He'd give me days off and he'd be brilliant.'
Disaster struck for Keane when his short back-pass to Crossley led to the keeper scuffing the ball to Palace ace John Salako, who looked up and lobbed Crossley in the final moment of the game. The game finished 2-2 after extra-time and Clough was furious, as Forest had already drawn 0-0 with Palace in their first FA Cup meeting.
As there were no penalty shootouts in the FA Cup at the time, a second replay had to be scheduled, leaving Clough furious. While Crossley admitted he should have done better with his clearance, Clough did not see it that way. The Corkonian midfielder said: "I'm looking and it was honestly like slow motion. You know about not upsetting the manager because we all loved Brian Clough. He gave us a chance like Norm did for me.
"I remember John Salako got it and I'm looking at Norm running back. John Salako, what would he have been? Forty-five yards out? (I thought) 'Norm get back. He's f***ing not getting there'. I swear, as soon as I heard it hit the net...
"He (Clough) blamed me for the back pass and it was the cup game. So then we went to a replay and he wanted the game done and dusted there. I think it ended up going to, three replays or something.
"So he had the thought of having a free weekend and was going, 'Now I've got to go to London, all the way to London to play Palace in the cup game that we hadn't won.' So he blamed me after the match.'
Turning to Crossley, Keane said: "I don't think you said much after the game. You just let me take the wrap for it. He (Clough) just punched me in the chest.'
Keane made 148 appearances for Forest between 1990 and 1993. He would eventually leave the City Ground to move to United, in a deal worth €4.45million, which was a British record at the time.
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