UPSET Roy Keane at your peril, right? Wrong.
Wayne Rooney has revealed how he earned the Corkman’s respect during his early days at Manchester United after an unlikely argument about… The X Factor.
Rooney, 32, was a guest pundit on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football alongside Jamie Carragher during Watford’s shock 4-1 win over Chelsea.
The Everton captain shared a brilliant tale about rowing with then-United skipper Keane during his first away trip with the club in 2004.
“I always remember on my first away trip having a big argument with Roy Keane," Rooney recalled.
“Roy was watching the rugby the night before and he went to get his food and I turned over the channel and put The X Factor on.
“He wasn’t happy and we had an argument. But straight away he respected me more for it.
“I think he looked at me and respected the fact that I was big enough to have a go back at him.”
In his recent autobiography, The Second Half, Keane went into greater detail about the confrontation with Rooney, who was just 18 at the time.
Keane wrote: "We were in a hotel, the Friday night before a game – I forget where. The team would always sit down and have a meal together, at about seven in the evening.
"There was a big TV in the room. I was into rugby league, and there was a big game on.
“I went to the toilet, came back and someone had changed the channel to something else – something stupid – I can't remember what it was. A few of the players were sitting there, giggling away."
Keane continued: "I said, 'Where's the rugby league?' I knew Wayne was up to something. I could tell by his face.
“I said, 'Where’s the remote control?' He said, 'I don’t know.' I said, 'You f***in' do.'
“I didn't exactly storm out, but I couldn't be bothered trying to get the remote control back, so I decided I'd watch the rest of the match up in my room.”
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