Saipan: Roy Keane fallout with Mick McCarthy – Dean Kelly in infamous row

Kane, who won seven Premier League titles during his 12 years at United under Sir Alex Ferguson, was not happy with the training facilities on Saipan.

In May 2002, after once threatening to quit the team, he told the Irish Times that the pitches were “very difficult”.

“I can’t imagine any other country in the world that is much worse off than us, playing on something like this,” Keane said.

He said he was not the “first singer” and described the facilities as “dangerous.”

Days later, during a team meeting, McCarthy demanded an apology from his team captain in front of the team.

“I think Mick’s intention was to drop it on Roy publicly,” Kelly said.

“I don’t know if he wanted to embarrass him.”

Either way, the famously combative midfielder responded to McCarthy’s questioning with a lengthy tirade. Legend has it that Keane told McCarthy “I don’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager and I don’t rate you as a person” before walking off and leaving the team.

Kelly said the silence that followed his passing felt like “an eternity.”

The then Charlton goalkeeper said he tried to break the tension with a joke, saying: “I can play in the middle of the park if you need to, Mick.”

In the absence of its best players, the Republic of Ireland, which shared the group with Germany, Saudi Arabia and Cameroon, reached the round of 16 in the tournament, where it lost on penalties to Spain.

Keane will not resume international duty until after McCarthy leaves his first spell in charge of the national team.

The Republic of Ireland has not reached the World Cup finals since.

Kelly said the team would have gone further in the competition had Kane not been knocked out.

He said: “We could have been much better if he had played in the midfield of the team.”