Shay Given says the fallout between former Sunderland managers Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy at the 2002 World Cup was like something 'out of a movie'.
Given was a member of McCarthy's squad for the tournament in Japan and South Korea, which was overshadowed by the controversial saga involving Keane and McCarthy.
Keane cited poor facilities in Ireland's training camp as a primary reason for his frustration and infamously slammed McCarthy in an interview with the Irish Times.
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He subsequently quit the national team, and only returned once McCarthy's reign had ended. Despite the controversy surrounding the national team, ROI reached the Round of 16 as they finished runners-up behind Germany and ahead of Cameroon and Saudi Arabia.
When asked which corner he was in, Given joked that he wouldn't fancy fighting either of them.
"I wouldn't fancy fighting Mick," Given revealed on Joe's All to Play For show. "Mick can hold his own, but obviously we all know Roy has got a fiery side to him as well.
"So I wouldn't really fancy getting on the wrong side of Roy to be honest, [I] probably have done after this interview. He knows where I live."
He continued: "Looking back now it was mad! It was a bit of a movie, like did that really happen? There was a big kick-off, obviously it's been well documented and talked about now as it was 20 years ago.
"Roy and Mick were going at it in front of everyone. It was all guns blazing. I think it goes back to when they were playing together and they had a bit of a kick-off on the bus once after a game.
"So I think there was a bit of history there. Roy doesn't forget things like that. I think that any club or any team, you have to have someone in charge of the team and that's the manager.
"So you have to support the manager. Probably in the cold light of day, if Roy was asked, and he'd probably never admit this, then he probably wished it hadn't happened either and that he played at the World Cup."
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