Roy Keane has little sympathy for FAI plight

Roy Keane has little sympathy for the FAI’s campaign to have their controversial World Cup play-off against France replayed and said: “What goes around comes around.”

The Ipswich manager’s relationship with the FAI broke down following his walk-out from the training camp in Saipan prior to the 2002 World Cup.

And he dismissed their calls for “the honesty and integrity” of the sport to be protected in the wake of Thierry Henry’s handball which led to France’s winner in Paris on Wednesday night.

“I think the supporters deserve better, the manager (Giovanni Trapattoni) deserves better and probably most of the players deserve better, but I’m not sure the FAI deserve better.

“What goes around comes around.”

Keane pointed out that controversial decisions also went Ireland’s way in the qualifying campaign, not least a harsh penalty award against Georgia which helped them to claim a 2-1 qualifying win in February.

He added: “Ireland had their chances in the two games (against France), and they never took them. But it’s the usual FAI reaction — ‘we’ve been robbed, the honesty of the game...’

“There was one match against Georgia where Ireland got a penalty and it was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen which changed the whole course of the game.

“I don’t remember the FAI after the game saying we should give them a replay.”

Talking specifically about France’s winner, Keane laid the blame on Ireland’s defence rather than Henry, who handled the ball before crossing for William Gallas to head in.

“I’d focus on why they didn’t clear it,” he said.

“I’d be more annoyed with my defenders and my goalkeeper than Thierry Henry. How can you let the ball bounce in your six-yard box? How can you let Thierry Henry get goal-side of you?

“If the ball goes into the six-yard box, where the hell is my goalkeeper?”

Keane’s antipathy towards the FAI is still strong seven years after he left the team’s pre-World Cup training camp, complaining that the facilities were sub-standard.

“People seem to forget what was going on in that World Cup, and that man (FAI chief executive John Delaney) is on about honesty. I was one of the players and he didn’t have the courtesy to ring me,” he said.

“I’d been involved with Ireland since I was 15 years of age and that man didn’t have the decency to make a phone call. He could have phoned me, of course he could have.”

Keane’s former international midfield colleague Ray Houghton admitted he did not expect Fifa to order a replay as they are governed by the rules but he appealed to the French Football Federation (FFF) to allow a replay to take place.

“I really feel it is up to the French Football Federation,” said Houghton.

“If they are unhappy with the way they have qualified then they should ask for a replay. You don’t want people going to the World Cup on the back of conning the referee or the officials.

“Surely for the sake of fair play, it should be replayed.”

And Houghton called for Fifa president Sepp Blatter to make a public statement on the decision by football’s world governing body.

“Where is Sepp Blatter? Why hasn’t he come out and stood up and told everyone how it is.

“He’s very good at telling other countries how to run their game. It really needed the top man to come out and tell the footballing public why they have made this decision.”

Earlier, Niall Quinn described William Gallas’s goal after a double handball from Thierry Henry as “the biggest injustice I have ever seen in sport”.

He told the club’s website: “I was at the first leg and it was disappointing because France were lucky on the night. We hoped it would be us who got the breaks in France but it wasn’t to be.

“People talk about Maradona’s Hand of God goal but I’d say that (France’s goal) was the biggest injustice I’ve ever seen in sport. Maybe I feel it more because I’m Irish.

“All that I believe in and all that I love about sport was shattered when I saw something like that. It’s possibly the lowest I’ve felt at any sporting moment in my life.”