Legendary Manchester United captain Roy Keane defied medical instructions and tried to run after Alfie Inge Haaland’s gruesome challenge.
It was that infamous challenge by Haaland that prompted Keane’s revenge against the Manchester City player four years later, when the two sides met at Old Trafford.
Dave Fevre, who was a senior physiotherapist at United between 1994 and 1999, has revealed how Roy Keane tried to play with a torn cruciate ligament in his knee against medical advice.
Fevre told FourFourTwo: “His mind was not on the injury. I evaluated his knee and thought: crossed. When we went to the hospital, we sat there, watching Blankety Blank on TV. She turned it off and said, So, Dave, what the hell is going on?
“I told him that I thought the crusader had already been done, but we were waiting for a specialist. ‘So let’s get started on this!’ he said. You do not have surgery in the first week, because you need to reduce the swelling ”.
“A week later, the swelling had subsided and Roy was determined that he could continue playing. I said, ‘Roy, I’m not kidding, but…’ He said, ‘No, no, I’ll be able to play, I want to go and try it out.’ We went to play basketball, but his knee buckled.”
During his intensive rehab, Keane was extremely focused on getting back on the field and helping his teammates.
Fevre recalls that they once did a snooker session where they were joined by Uwe Rosler and Alan Kernaghan from Manchester City.
The City duo were sitting in the hot tub doing nothing, something Keane had trouble with.
The Irishman looked at the City couple and asked what they were doing.
Keane and Fevre discussed it among themselves and concluded that it was a difference in mentality and that was why Rosler and Kernaghan played for City while Keane captained United.
Keane did not appear for the remainder of the 1997/98 season. However, he returned a man possessed and made his contribution the following year as United went ahead to win the treble.
