Jason McAteer has reignited his feud with Roy Keane by aiming a sly dig at the former Manchester United captain on social media.
Keane was in the Sky Sports studio to cover Liverpool ’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon and made headlines with his comments about Andy Robertson. The Irishman had no sympathy for the Liverpool left-back after he was elbowed in the chin during a confrontation with assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis.
At half-time Keane said : "Do you know what it is, that Robertson? I've watched him a number of times. He's a big baby. That's what he is. Just get on with the game and concentrate on your defending. He does grab the linesman first."
After the match, he added: “What’s he gone over to him for? And what’s he complaining for? I said at half-time, Robertson, what a baby. What a big baby. Just get on with the game. Baby.”
His fellow pundits Micah Richards, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher burst into laughter at Keane’s comments. But McAteer, who works with Richard Keys and Andy Gray for rival broadcaster BeIN SPORTS, was not laughing.
He tweeted: “All for everyone has an opinion but some I find hard to deal with. Find some opinions a bit rich to be honest but …….. optics #LFC #SkySports #baby #pantomime”.
McAteer is a former team-mate of Keane from their days with the Republic of Ireland national team, while he also faced him in the Premier League while playing for Bolton, Liverpool, Blackburn and Sunderland.
The two ex-players are the same age and got on well while away with Ireland, but their good relationship did not last. After spending four years on opposing sides for Liverpool and Manchester United, they were both in the Ireland squad for the 2002 World Cup.
That is where their relationship fell apart, with Keane falling out with manager Mick McCarthy and flying home. His decision alienated him from some of the squad, McAteer included.
"We understood where he came from, what he stood for and what he wanted – we all just felt it was at the wrong time. There was a time and a place for it and it was after the World Cup,” McAteer said on RTE 1 in 2016.
"Obviously the disappointment and the anger spilled over into the Premier League season. He had been a little unsavoury towards the lads, me included, in his book.
"When we had words on the pitch, I just said to him 'put it in your next book, I'll read about it I'm sure.' That's all that was, but unfortunately, we never kissed and made up – we're still bayonets at thirty paces."
In August 2002, straight after the World Cup, the two clashed during United’s trip to Sunderland in the Premier League. The two came together in a duel which ended in a slanging match before Keane was sent off later on for elbowing McAteer in the head.
"I never feared him and I came up against him with Sunderland. We were a lot older then and our relationship was quite weird,” McAteer told Bet365 in 2021. "We weren't mates initially. We had difference in opinions early on, we were young. We were a little bit immature, the pair of us, with things we did.
"Then we got a older, wiser and more experienced and we realised that there was a tribalism between Liverpool and Man United. I think we had to dislike each other because of that so we did."
