Roy Keane

IT wasn't supposed to end like this, Roy. Not with a whimper. Not with an anodyne statement about "leaving by mutual consent", the language of the prawn-sandwich classes you so despise. You, of all people, Roy, should have gone out with a bang.

You should have coaxed one final bravura display, rolling back the years to Turin, Highbury, Anfield and all those unforgettable days and nights where you stood loud, proud and defiant in the blood-red of Manchester United. Not like this, the footballing equivalent of the uncontested divorce.

You always contested everything, every loose ball, every decision, every sign of slackening by team-mates.

The Keane whom United fans knew and loved should have departed Old Trafford as a gladiator on his shield, that heaving beast of a Salford coliseum stirring to salute a legend whose almost painful will to win drove them through the glorious '90s.

This unique Irishman should have gone out with a juddering challenge, a scream at an official, a brief wave to the Stretford End and then a fast car out of town. Not a farewell note on the kitchen table. Twelve years of passion does not die overnight.

Butterfly

United's foot-soldiers will despair that their last image of this remarkable leader of men, a fighter all Cork and bottle, was of him being felled by that Liverpool butterfly, Luis Garcia. An Anfield clattering by the formidable Steven Gerrard is one thing, but not by a Spanish boy with an Alice band.

The cheap manner of Keane's parting belittles the reality of his rich impact on England's largest club.

As a tribute to the immense Keane, United should have terminated all scheduled shows on MUTV, replacing them with some solemn Handel and Bach, rather than Crerand and Bower. They do know how to pull programmes, after all.

When it comes to informing supporters, Old Trafford shamefully produce more smoke and mirrors than a fire at Ikea. United fans deserve to know certain facts: did Keane really report for reserve duty in midweek, only to be informed that Alex Ferguson didn't want him involved? Was he stripped of the captaincy?

Were United so concerned about the outspoken, ageing Keane that they decided an employee of too much lip and too little hip was not worthy of a new contract?

Has some deal been done, after a final cataclysmic falling-out with Ferguson, whereby Keane would go quietly and be allowed to join Celtic?

Those who have studied, admired and occasionally been affronted by Keane's single-minded approach cannot understand why he has chosen to leave so meekly.

This is not the behaviour of a natural warrior who fought to the last, who conquered Juventus in the semi-final of the Champions League in 1999, who stood up to Patrick Vieira at Arsenal and who took the abuse of Liverpool's Kop as the ultimate compliment.

Mutual consent? You are not just having a laugh, Roy, you are mocking people's intellect. These are not the words of someone who deliberately maimed Alfie Haaland, who stamped on Gareth Southgate, who hounded the hapless referee Andy D'Urso with all the bared-teeth relish of an unhinged, unleashed guard-dog cornering an apprentice postman. Who wrote an autobiography in acid.

Insult

Yesterday's statement detailing the termination of R Keane's employment at Manchester United FC is an insult to all who hold this special club dear. All the zeal and rage one instinctively associates with Keane has been airbrushed from his bland farewell missive.

Just read this: "Whilst it is a sad day for me to leave such a great club and manager, I believe that the time has now come for me to move on."

Whilst? This farewell note has a lawyer's

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