Martin Keown (and friends) vs Ruud van Nistelrooy incident...

Charlie Foley

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Also Fellaini would be good to go in a situation like this which is why I won’t complain about him being in the squad
 

Siorac

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Pretty much how I viewed them. But ‘slapon the wrist’ aside, I wouldn’t want us to run to the teacher in a situation like that, especially at Old Trafford. We should be handling shit like that, feck it, we all get fined.
Yeah, fair enough. Someone should have just decked Keown there and then.

Ruud's celebration a year later is still one of my favourite United memories though so there's that.
 

Rozay

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Yeah, fair enough. Someone should have just decked Keown there and then.

Ruud's celebration a year later is still one of my favourite United memories though so there's that.
And tbh there was also our last meeting at Highbury were Keane stood up to them trying to bully Nev.
 

Siorac

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And tbh there was also our last meeting at Highbury were Keane stood up to them trying to bully Nev.
That wasn't our last meeting at Highbury though. That was a drab 0-0 draw in 2005/06.

The 4-2 was brilliant, with the tunnel brawl, Ronaldo's celebration, the O'Shea goal... was a bit of a depressing season (58 league goals) but beating them home and away felt great.
 

youngrell

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Vaguely remember Giggs getting involved with some shoving after it.

Overall though, the situation was so strange I think it took everyone by surprise that this grown man was jumping around like a deranged ape.
 

ChaddyP

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But back to the Ops main point.
We were always on a hiding for nothing against Barca.I mean we played some seriously poor opposition to the lead-up to the final.
It was comfortable. SAF could've eased through those games blind-folded.
We tried the United way for first half and were lucky to be 1-1 at half time. Think we should have went more pragmatic after that. Also berbatov should have been on the bench and not bloody Michael Owen
 

POF

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I must confess but, 15 years on, I still can’t get over this incident. To have the sheer temerity to attack one of our players in that manner, in our own home, and basically run him off the pitch. I can’t think of a single worse incident of this kind, and ultimately, one that they were allowed to do without what proper retaliation from our lads.

Every time I see that clip it still enrages me that we did nothing at the time.
What did you expect them to do? Knock his lights out? The team stepped in when it happened but it wasn't as if they could retaliate later in the game. It was the last minute.

What they did do was raise their game next time they came to Old Trafford, end their unbeaten run and break the spirit of an "unbeatable team" who never won a major trophy again.

Watching their "50 not out" t-shirts peer through their tear filled shirts while they incredulously looked for someone to blame was the ultimate payback.

And they got away with pretty much nothing but a slap on the wrist.

I fecking hated that team with a fiery passion. I even wanted Liverpool to beat them, always, though I am somewhat ashamed of that. They were a nasty, thuggish, diving, cheating bunch of shitheads who always claimed the moral high ground.
Pretty good summary. That Arsenal team were the most poorly behaved team in EPL history with Wenger fueling it.

It's why they fell so hard when their run ended. They were so arrogant and delusional that they really struggled to cope with a defeat. Even to this day you will hear players from that team defend some of their disgraceful behaviour.
 

Dante

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Also Fellaini would be good to go in a situation like this which is why I won’t complain about him being in the squad
Agreed. Fellaini would have been perfect in that match.

Barcelona weren't the best in the air. Any freekicks around the area and we'd have been in with a really good chance of scoring.

Also, we hardly got a sniff of the ball in the game, so Fellaini in midfield wouldn't have made a difference in terms of our passing stats. However, as an option on aerial balls to help retain the possession and allow the team to push up, Fergie would have loved him. All three goals came with the defence sitting too deep.

If we'd been under less pressure and had an extra threat in the box, I don't think we'd have lost as badly as we did.
 

Rozay

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Keown said in his own words that it was ‘a disgrace’ that nobody protected Ruud.
 

POF

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This is starting to feel like seeing everything in a particular light to suit a certain narrative.
It's truly bizarre. Keane, Giggs and a few others did step in. They didn't straight away because the game was still going on.
 

Rozay

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What did you expect them to do? Knock his lights out? The team stepped in when it happened but it wasn't as if they could retaliate later in the game. It was the last minute.

What they did do was raise their game next time they came to Old Trafford, end their unbeaten run and break the spirit of an "unbeatable team" who never won a major trophy again.

Watching their "50 not out" t-shirts peer through their tear filled shirts while they incredulously looked for someone to blame was the ultimate payback.



Pretty good summary. That Arsenal team were the most poorly behaved team in EPL history with Wenger fueling it.

It's why they fell so hard when their run ended. They were so arrogant and delusional that they really struggled to cope with a defeat. Even to this day you will hear players from that team defend some of their disgraceful behaviour.
We’ve seen plenty of ‘brawls’ on a football pitch before, nothing too serious, pushing and shoving, shirt pulling. It would be separated before I got out of hand, but at least, do something.
 

Nico87

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I like the video of Keown talking about the time he intimidated Sir Alex to stop him putting pressure on a referee, and Rio and Lampard who were the other pundits in the studio openly laugh at him.
 

POF

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We’ve seen plenty of ‘brawls’ on a football pitch before, nothing too serious, pushing and shoving, shirt pulling. It would be separated before I got out of hand, but at least, do something.
Isn't that exactly what happened?
 

Rozay

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Isn't that exactly what happened?
Not really I don’t think. Only Ronaldo really wants some. The rest run over to put their arm around Ruud to see if their mate has a cut on his finger, nobody addressing the Arsenal lads. I’ll watch the video again.
 

Tarrou

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We’ve seen plenty of ‘brawls’ on a football pitch before, nothing too serious, pushing and shoving, shirt pulling. It would be separated before I got out of hand, but at least, do something.
so a bit more handbags basically
 

POF

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Not really I don’t think. Only Ronaldo really wants some. The rest run over to put their arm around Ruud to see if their mate has a cut on his finger, nobody addressing the Arsenal lads. I’ll watch the video again.
I just did as you had me doubting my own memory of it!

The gorilla jump was on full time. Keane stepped in and led Van Nistelrooy away. Giggs, Ronaldo, Fortune and to a lesser extent Neville and Rio confronted the Arsenal players.

I was really proud of how the players behaved that day. In the face of an opposition team disgracing their club, they acted with dignity despite a heartbreaking late miss that would have won the game.
 

Rozay

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so a bit more handbags basically
Keown, Parlour and Lauren’s behaviour definitely warranted ‘a bit more handbags’. Just show that you can’t do that shit to us. Keown clipped him on the back of his head, Parlour shoved him in his ribs, Lauren I think pushed his head from behind. If that does NOT lead to full scale ‘handbags’, there’s a problem IMO. Especially on your own patch. I’m getting annoyed again just writing this. It’s because Keown still goes around talking about it proudly.
 

Rozay

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I just did as you had me doubting my own memory of it!

The gorilla jump was on full time. Keane stepped in and led Van Nistelrooy away. Giggs, Ronaldo, Fortune and to a lesser extent Neville and Rio confronted the Arsenal players.

I was really proud of how the players behaved that day. In the face of an opposition team disgracing their club, they acted with dignity despite a heartbreaking late miss that would have won the game.
If a couple red cards got dished out on both sides I wouldn’t have minded personally. And if the City or Liverpool boys came to Old Trafford next week and think they can slap and chase Marcus Rashford off the Old Trafford pitch, I’d like to see at least one of our players having to fight an FA ban too.
 

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I once saw Viera and shouted Roy Keane.

Well, I saw two of my Arsenal-supporting workmates giggling like kids and they point to Viera talking on the phone. They apparently followed him for a bit and even eavesdropped on him talking about Man City youth or something. Anyway, I shouted 'Roy Keane!'. They just hid and called me a dickhead. I don't know why I did that. It was the first thing that came to my mind. (In reality, I'd probably side with Viera - I hated Keane).
 
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Davie Moyes

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There's a debate to be had about Keane and his supposed "hardness" He carefully picked his fights thats for sure.
I disagree. Where has this come from? Show me one example of Keane shirking from anyone on the pitch. Yes sure off the pitch in a straight fight he might not have come off best against everyone but what set him apart is the sheer will to win and fearlessness against any opponent. Just look at him in the tunnel - pure rage.
 

.Rossi

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Was at that match... Why I choose to mention that, I don't know but, however...

Was an absolute appallingly shite match. Only surprise for me was Keane didn't get involved, was level headed and it was Giggs and Ronaldo getting stuck in during the aftermath.
 

Henrik Larsson

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I once saw Viera and shouted Roy Keane.

Well, I saw two of my Arsenal-supporting workmates at work giggling like kids and they point to Viera talking on the phone. They apparently followed him for a bit and even listened to him talk about Man City youth or something. Anyway, I shouted 'Roy Keane!'. They just hid and called me a dickhead. I don't know why I did that. It was the first thing that came to my mind. (In reality, I'd probably side with Viera - I hated Keane).
You did the right thing.
 

SirMattlives

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Fergie should have gone over and decked Keown. End of. That was a rare occasion when we looked bullied.
 

.Rossi

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There's a debate to be had about Keane and his supposed "hardness" He carefully picked his fights thats for sure.
Selective memory

Remember your self proclaimed best ever United defender Rio? Shitting himself against Duncan Ferguson ,every single time and it was Keane who was left to mark him?

Or the time he threw a kick and punch at Viera, when everyone knows Viera would have destroyed him

Or the time he beat the piss out of Schmeichel, who is a foot taller than him?

You prefer Robson and probably rightly so... However, I think questioning Keane is a bit of stretch on this

Also smacks me as ungrateful because without him and others, you would not have had those times you enjoyed in the 90s and 00s
 

Rozay

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Fergie should have gone over and decked Keown. End of. That was a rare occasion when we looked bullied.
Certainly. I wouldn’t even care so much tif Ruud could look after himself, but he obviously couldn’t. He did nothing and was petrified. That’s where a Keane or whoever should be in there grabbing collars at the very least.

10 years too early for Marouane Fellaini sadly! Proudly remember him racing to sort some Fulham thugs out who tried to rough up Adnan.
 

.Rossi

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Hang on a second here...

Ruud just missed a penalty, cost his team the match, that's clearly on his mind, he's then attacked and goaded over it by a bunch of bullies and some people are questioning him over his response and basically calling him a coward?

F**k me!!

And I thought the dick swinging between Pogs and Mou was bad...

Carry on...
 

kidbob

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There should be no perceived 'hard men' in football. They are all some who are less pansies than others but still pansies none the less. Football has the most embarrassing 'fights' and players are sent off for doing basically nothing sometimes.
 

Rozay

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Hang on a second here...

Ruud just missed a penalty, cost his team the match, that's clearly on his mind, he's then attacked and goaded over it by a bunch of bullies and some people are questioning him over his response and basically calling him a coward?

F**k me!!

And I thought the dick swinging between Pogs and Mou was bad...

Carry on...
You’re basically having a debate with yourself here.

Carry on...
 

Skills

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Ruuds penalty and celebration the season after to end the streak is one of my favourite moments a Utd fan.
 

Charlie Foley

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I like the video of Keown talking about the time he intimidated Sir Alex to stop him putting pressure on a referee, and Rio and Lampard who were the other pundits in the studio openly laugh at him.
Wasn't that the same time he said no visiting player won more times at Old Trafford than him, and then they turned to Lampard who had won more :lol:

I never laughed so much about an opposition player beating us.

For the "Keane wasn't that hard" group-do you have footage? Video evidence? I don't mean this as a challenge, more interested, as his hard man reputation/incidents are so well documented. Does he have a Winterburn jumping from di Canio moment? (Actually, di Canio's red card that day was due to an incident with Keown, I think).
 

Charlie Foley

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I once saw Viera and shouted Roy Keane.

Well, I saw two of my Arsenal-supporting workmates at work giggling like kids and they point to Viera talking on the phone. They apparently followed him for a bit and even listened to him talk about Man City youth or something. Anyway, I shouted 'Roy Keane!'. They just hid and called me a dickhead. I don't know why I did that. It was the first thing that came to my mind. (In reality, I'd probably side with Viera - I hated Keane).
This is fecking hilarious and even funnier now I see you're a Chelsea fan
 

Charlie Foley

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I enjoy that we booted them up in the air that day, thanks to this Arsenal fan who put it all together (though honestly the music makes it seem like a piss taking United fan)