SOCCER: Manchester United's season went from bad to worse last night when Roy Keane castigated his team-mates in an interview so explosive that Alex Ferguson and his chief executive David Gill immediately banned it from being shown on the club's television station.

Keane's criticisms of United's players were so extreme that MUTV's producers decided they would have to contact Ferguson and Gill for permission to put it on the air. A transcript was sent to Gill and, with Ferguson's backing, he ordered that the tape must be binned. MUTV showed a youth academy match instead.

The exact content of Keane's vitriol is not known, but MUTV officials were described as being genuinely taken aback by the severity of his comments. The Keane rant has become an annual part of United's season in recent years, but never before has he named names.

Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher, Alan Smith, John O'Shea and Kieran Richardson are believed to be among those named and shamed in the aftermath of Saturday's 4-1 defeat away to Middlesbrough, their heaviest defeat in 19 months. Liam Miller, who did not play at the Riverside, is also said to have been identified.

Keane took aim during a 30-minute interview that was scheduled to go out at 5.30pm yesterday in a show entitled Roy Keane Plays the Pundit, in which he was shown video clips of Middlesbrough's goals and asked to give his opinions. According to those who were present, it became obvious within 10 minutes that the interview would be "explosive even by his standards" and beyond editing.

On numerous occasions he was invited to tone down his words, but the man who once claimed there was nobody in the Old Trafford dressingroom whom he considered a friend continued to condemn Ferguson's players.

He accused individuals of playing with their reputations, of not trying and of not understanding the principles of the club. "His attitude stinks" is a phrase that was apparently used. Ferguson's use of Smith in midfield was also thought to have been questioned.

It remains to be seen how Keane, currently recuperating from a broken foot, will react to the interview being pulled when he clearly wanted his feelings to be known. Gill is thought to have tried to contact the United captain to explain his reasoning.

One certainty, however, is that the outburst will not help United's bid to dissuade Keane from leaving the club when his contract expires at the end of the season. A fiercely proud man, Keane is not the type to accept being gagged and, at the age of 34 and with 12 years' service to the club, he is entitled to feel that he is in a position to make his anger known.

Although Keane has been outspoken in the past, he has always argued that his criticism of players is constructive. It could be more divisive in terms of dressingroom morale that his colleagues will now be wondering what has been said about them.

United's hierarchy, in turn, are appalled that the captain of the club could be so condemnatory of his colleagues and willing, apparently, to create the impression that the club is in disarray.

Their position is that they believe his tirade would have done more harm than good and that there was no way they could allow the screening of an interview that effectively amounted to a calculated attack on attitude, morale and work ethic.

The club desperately wanted to keep the matter out of the press and MUTV officials have been ordered not to make any comment.