What happened in Saipan?

Keane is your typical sociopath & when I was bored in work earlier today I looked through photos of the squad in the airport heading for Saipan and he looked ready to fight someone in Terminal 2. Whatever happened in the few days leading up to the infamous blow out, he just snapped. If the squad was together for a month and he lost the head then I’d say something but they were only together a few days. At the Euros in 2012, the squad were all pissed off and hated the sight of each other by the time the tournament even kicked off. They had been together 3 weeks by the time they played Croatia. We had a few pints with one of the lads from the 2012 squad one night in Dublin and he said by the time they got to Poland they were wrecked. They had been training in Dublin, then went to Italy, then played Hungary then had a week in Poland. If this had of been the case in 2002 I could justify a meltdown but not after 2/3 days of light training like they had in Saipan.

Ladies and gentlemen i present to you the first man in the history of the Irish state and the inhabitants of the island of Saipan to call the said facilities "fantastic"  

Was just about to type that. Chiba was fantastic but the way it was spun by Kennedy and RK incorporated was that Saipan was the training camp rather than a short r&r stopover. All the talk of no balls  and training gear etc was bullsh*t. One skip load  of shew stuff was delayed for a day due to a problem at DHL's end but everyone had gear to wear and balls to train with.

Did the guts of a month in Japan and Korea for 2002. Incredible trip. Ended up out with the team trying to get over the disappointment of the Spain defeat. General opinion was that Roy didn't want to be there and it was a more effective camp without him. 

Have always believed that had Man U won a trophy that season Roy would have been more content but seeing Arsenal win the double and losing to Leverkussen in the Champions League semi final was eating him up. He should have skipped Saipan and gone straight but there's no guarantee he wouldn't have kicked off in Japan. Have to laugh at some of the comments saying McCarthy should have been treating Roy differently to the rest when he'd been doing exactly that for years. 

I think Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy went there way back. 😉 

One argument I heard put forward by Keane supporters during the tournament was that the FAI should have flown Denis Irwin to the tournament, so that Roy would have a room-mate and someone to keep him company.

Keane's relationship with Irish football was very much on his own terms. In the calendar years of 1995 and 1996, he won a total of 4 caps at a time when he was almost ever-present for United. As already referred to on this thread, he missed the second leg in Iran on a Thursday evening, yet was fit to play 90 minutes for United less than 48 hours later. He then played a mid-week match in Europe and a subsequent match against Arsenal. Three 90-minute appearances in the 9 days that followed the Iran play-off. By comparison, Niall Quinn was carrying an injury and made the trip to Tehran to ensure that he was giving his backing to the squad.

In some respects, it might have been a blessing in disguise that Keane combusted in Saipan, rather than him throwing a tantrum in Japan and ruining the tournament. We'll never know how the squad might have fared with him in it, but it could be argued that his absence liberated the players at that tournament and that they were a happier squad as a result.

It's impossible to say and it could certainly have been argued alright. That said, we played far better without Keane against Germany and Spain in the tournament than with him against Holland in the Lansdowne game, for example.

Bit harsh calling that German team gash, there were a very good side with world class players the calibre of Khan, Ballack and Klose and plenty others just under that level. They put 8 past the Saudis and beat Cameroon 2-0 with only ten men after Ramelow was sent off early on. Did what they had to do in the knock outs. Always feel that Germany team is talked down over here as it suited the narrative to suggest we would have beaten them with RK in the team and played Paraguay in the last 16 rather than Spain on our way to the final.