Roy Keane revealed how he spent an entire holiday in Cyprus hiding from Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish.
And the former Republic of Ireland international also believes Steven Gerrard falls short of being a “great”.
Keane was asked about the Anfield duo during a wide-ranging interview as part of a fund-raising event for former Manchester United team-mate Pat McGibbon back in 2016.
The former Republic of Ireland international had agreed to move from Nottingham Forest to Dalglish’s Blackburn Rovers in 1993 before a change of heart saw him move to Old Trafford instead.
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And Keane has revealed how a fuming Dalglish had declared he would “find” the midfielder after the snub.
“I spoke to Blackburn,” he said. “United hadn’t come in for me at that stage. I was 21 or 22 at the time.
“I met Kenny Dalglish, agreed a contract with them and a pay rise. I thought Blackburn were going places with Dalglish.
“They had got Alan Shearer in and I agreed a deal on a Friday night. On the Friday they said would I come back on the Monday when the offices were open again and I said yes.
“It was the end of the season so I went back to Cork for a few days and on Sunday morning I woke up and got a phone call from Alex Ferguson asking to go and meet him.
“I met Brian Kidd and Alex Ferguson, played a game of snooker with them and had the usual small talk, they told me how great I was and I believed them.
“I decided I wanted to go to United. In the meantime Kenny Dalglish phoned up and I said I had agreed to go to United and he was fuming.
“I said to him I was going to Cyprus on holiday with a few mates and when I came back I was going to sign for United and he said I’m going to find you.
“Every bar in Ayia Napa I was looking over my shoulder expecting to see Kenny Dalglish!”
Keane, interviewed on stage by Irish League pundit Liam Beckett, was also asked for his opinion on former Liverpool skipper Gerrard.
“He was a good player,” said Keane, as reported in the Belfast Telegraph. “He was a really good player.
“I don’t throw around these lines that everyone was a great player or a legend. That’s all nonsense. He was a really good player and I think he would have done well at United. He won Liverpool a lot of big games. Good player Gerrard. You can’t take that away from him.”
A version of this piece was originally published on July 2, 2016.
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