Roy Keane recalled how bringing in Dunphy, the ghost-writer of his first biography, to give evidence at a disciplinary hearing for a tackle he made on Alf Inge Haaland of Man City literally couldn't have gone any worse.
Keano made the quite humorous revelation in his new biography 'The Second Half" which has been leaked after a Tesco store in the UK accidentally started selling it before it's official release date.
In his first biography, Keane came under fire for a chapter which described the foul on Haaland. The former Ireland captain was charged by the English FA for writing the following passage,
I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there to be won, I think. Take that you cunt.
To try to clear his name, Keane brought in Dunphy as a key witness which proved to be disastrous. Dunphy's intervention backfired massively and resulted in Keane receiving a five-match ban and a hefty £150,000 fine.
Eamon was my ghost-writer and had come across from Ireland for the hearing to be a witness. He had already said that he'd used his own words to describe the tackle. Before he went in, I'd been going to say to him, 'Eamon if they ask you if you think I intentionally went to injure Haaland then say no'.
But I decided not to; I wouldn't embarrass him by saying something as simple as that. Jim Sturman (the lawyer acting on the FA's behalf) asked him, 'Mister Dunphy, do you think Mister Keane intentionally went to injure his fellow professional, Mister Haaland?'
And Eamon's three words back to Sturman were, 'Without a doubt'. That was my case, my defence, out the window.
Despite the fact that he threw him to the lions at the trial, Keane admitted he doesn't blame Dunphy for the outcome of the hearing.
Eamon had written the book; he was my witness. Eamon felt he was on trial, and that it was a criminal court. He wanted to distance himself from it and I could see his point of view. I looked at him and thought, 'I'm definitely fucked now'. I'm not blaming Eamon at all but he didn't help.
Hat tip: Independent.ie
Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE
