Time to pick up the phone, Roy

MICK McCARTHY simmers away in Cavan. Meantime, his errant midfielder, Roy Keane is under siege from the English media in his £500,000 residence on the stockbroker belt outside Manchester, and is himself fuming. A young man angry with the world again. How did it come to such a sorry impasse?

It's good to talk, eh? We're all talking about a silly, needless break down in communication here. All it would have taken was one phone call. That's probably all it would still require to mend fences.

Only Keane knows precisely how hard he tried to contact McCarthy before or after his sixday break in Capri, which ended last Tuesday week. In mitigation, McCarthy would have been difficult to contact given it was his testimonial week.

Then, it seems, Keane felt seriously compromised by McCarthy's announcement earlier this week that Keane would be the Republic's captain for the coming US Cup. Clearly, Keane was already in summer holiday mode, and had switched off mentally as much as physically from all matters football after an arduous double winning season. He believed he had made the decision to end his season already.

But it is also clear Keane had developed a bee in his bonnet, for there was nothing to stop him phoning McCarthy this week. A curious, typically Keane mixture - of reticence and shyness on the one hand - hoping that the matter would somehow go away of its own accord - and bullishness - may explain why. That he should resort to issuing a statement of sorts through his solicitor indicates his stubborn mood at the moment.

Back to Cayan and McCarthy. He needed this like a hole in the head. First off he learns he was second choice, after, Kenny Daglish and third choice in the minds of two of the five man selection committee. Then he has to wait to have his second command, Ian Evans, ratified as under 21 manager.

Then he is publicly barred from receiving FA Cup, final tickets for 10 years. Then his fledgling side is, but for the third time, in injury time. Then he hears Keane's solicitor has issued a statement. "What should I do, have my solicitor write to his?" he responds memorably, his patience finally wearing out.

Television viewers might understandably be confused by McCarthy's intemperate reaction to, Keane's "explanation" and the widespread condemnation of the errant Corkman in the print media, compared to what happened on RTE on Wednesday night.

Surprisingly, the network's accomplished presenter Bill O'Herlihy took Keane's statement at face value, and immediately presumed the beleaguered FAI were responsible for mislaying the infamous "message". He did not ask to whom this message had been conveyed in the FAI. Had it been sent by courier pigeon? When was it conveyed, exactly? Last week? This week? From Capri or the Benson and Hedges cricket quarter final in Manchester? And why through a solicitor and in the middle of the Portugal game? Was there something wrong with Keane's vocal chords?

Equally bizarre, but more predictable, was Pat Crerand's knee jerk defence, of Keane. United men must stick together and all that. Yawn. No one denies that Keane probably deserves a rest after such an arduous campaign. More importantly, McCarthy would gladly have granted it. He readily acceded to similar requests from Andy Townsend, Paul McGrath and others.

Besides, a double winning campaign two years ago didn't stop Keane attending the World Cup finals in America, and, what's more, he performed superbly in all four Republic of Ireland games. Capable of surly abruptness one day, and charming conviviality the next, with that mischievous glint in his eye, during that summer Keane appeared to be at ease with his increased responsibilities on and off the pitch.

After the Wembley FA Cup final win over Liverpool, he was in the latter mode. Nor did anyone force Keane to publicly commit himself to the end of season games and the US Cup.

"I'll take a few weeks holiday and then report to Dublin for the Ireland matches. I've missed a lot of internationals in the past few years because of injuries, suspensions and other reasons. But Mick has new ideas and it's an exciting time to be involved with Ireland. We want to do well in the US Cup and I want to play in the games.

So what prompted the change of heart? Well, most likely in his heart he wanted to atone for the increasing, suspicions regarding his commitment to the Republic and his dismissal against Russia. But family responsbilities (he has two daughters under three), and a holiday mind set saw his heart give way to a tired mind and body.

On his return, though, he must have been aware of the storm clouds brewing back home. If he wasn't then he should get some new advisers. A stubborn stand off was only going to dig a bigger hole.

Far from going to ground on Tuesday, he was, seen at Old Trafford (the cricket version) with several friends from the Cork junior club, Temple United, attending the Lancashire Gloucestershire match.

Much has been made of his current contract negotiations, which would see his salary increase £1 million per season. McCarthy agreed with Pat Kenny during the week that modern day footballers are possibly too well paid and too pampered - and he was one of them.

Perhaps there's something in that, though a less well known side to Keane is his charity work which he believes should be kept private. So be it, we'll respect his wishes, even if some of the stories hint at a man of generous and loyal nature.

In any event, contractual negotiations are matters for his advisers and solicitor. Speaking of the latter, Michael Kennedy (who also looks after the affairs of Niall Quinn and Dave O'Leary, and is reputedly a decent fellow, a solicitor as opposed to a spiv) could surely have advised Keane better in all of this.

One word was singularly missing from Wednesday's ill timed statement (which was days too late, arrogantly presumed he would be selected at the outset of the World Cup qualifying campaign and was less than fully apologetic). That word was sorry.

Alternatively, of course, maybe there is no one individual who exercises that kind of influence over Keane - a bullish character of independent mind.

To understand Keane I suppose, you have to understand his background. Born in Cork on August 8th, 1971, Keane was reared in Ballinderry Park, a tough, working class estate in the Mayfield suburb on the northside of Cork City.

The second youngest of five (four boys and two girls), whose father Mossie was unemployed, the boy Roy was a product of street football, attracting interest in his formative days at junior club Rockmount before he joined Cobh Ramblers at 16.

Though diligent enough at his primary school, Keane abandoned education from an early age to concentrate on football. At 17 he was singled out by the Nottingham Forest scout Noel McCabe in a Cobh Ramblers youths team which lost 4-0.

After two trials with Forest, Brian Clough bought him for £25,000 and within four months of his first season Keane had established himself in the first team, winning the Barclays Young Eagle of the Month for December in 1990.

Fame, wealth and notoriety came to him quickly. A young man with time on his hands and money to burn, Keane was involved in a string of night club incidents. Soon after joining Manchester United for a then British record transfer fee of £3.75 million in July, 1993, Keane was being portrayed as something of a hellraiser by a British tabloid press eager to investigate his social life.

"They've absolutely slaughtered me," he complained once. "I mean, I know I've made mistakes, but I'm only 22, I'm single. Roy Keane Was Out On The Town. What do they expect? Me to sit in and knit jumpers?"

There's a wild streak there alright. Perceived as something of a rough diamond off the pitch, he gradually developed a reputation for being one on it as well. Keane has become equally unapologetic for his aggressiveness on the pitch, the anger with which he plays and without which it seems, he can't play.

Yet, before he joined United, Keane enjoyed a fairly unblemished disciplinary record under Clough at Forest and Jack Charlton. Keane had only been booked once in 29 internationals before he was sent off wearing the captain's armband for the first time in McCarthy's inaugural game at home to Russia last February.

Clough, especially, placed great store by his team's discipline by comparison, Ferguson indulges his players' excessive competitiveness as he fosters a United against the world mentality akin to that which he fostered at Aberdeen. Given the United mentality, augmented by the likes of Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Peter Schmeichel, such an attitude didn't need much fostering anyhow.

"We have players who burn the fuse," Ferguson once said, beginning to bridle as his players frequently did. "They need to win. When they lose, they go way, way down. You can see it, feel it, smell it. That's the quality you're looking for. But when they get together you don't always know what's going to happen. There will be explosions at times.

"But that is part of the character of winners. And people don't like Manchester United to win. We're not the most popular side, because we are the biggest. So we'll always be attacked."

When Ferguson turns up the heat in the United pre match dressing room, no one is more ready and willing to run through a brick wall for him than Keane.

There's no doubt United and Ferguson have been good for Keane in many ways. He's developed into a world class mid fielder, the best in the Premiership. I watched him more than any other player in the Cup final and he ran the game for 20 minutes, and then almost singlehandedly prevented Liverpool's passing game from having any penetration with his astonishing work rate.

The last to collect his winner's medal, Keane gestured to some Liverpool fans and sardonically blew kisses at them. It reminded you of the other excesses the stamping of Gareth Southgate in last year's semi final replay after a Palace fan had been killed following the drawn game. The other intemperate sendings off, against Middlesbrough and against Russia.

In other ways, too, Ferguson and the whole United baggage hasn't been good for him. One can't help but feel that a few more years of Cloughie's guiding hand (and Keane was one of the few who could walk into his office without fear) might have proved deeply beneficial.

Remarkably, only three of United's squad are competing in the European finals, and Eric Cantona has become a cause celebre after his exclusion. Could it be that it's trendy not to be in an international squad?

Ferguson is notoriously difficult with international managers and Keane missed eight of the Republic's 11 qualifiers, yet was able to play for United on five of the ensuing weekends. By the time August's Liechtenstein match comes around it looks as if he will have missed 14 of the Republic's previous 18 games.

Hiding his face, from cameras in England, and unlikely to return to Cork in the midst of this sorry saga, the danger is that it could all get ridiculously out of hand.

Too big for his boots now? Within the Irish squad he is known by some as "a big time Charlie", but much more of this saga and the theory will, gather momentum. It's surely time for him to stand up and accept his responsibilities.

It's all so silly, and there's only one solution really. McCarthy is a reasonable man. So Keane must stop wallowing in his annoyance, swallow his pride and pick up the phone. It's good to talk, Roy.