Roy Keane and Bruno Fernandes Resolve Spat Over Assist Record
Roy Keane says he and Bruno Fernandes have cleared the air after their public spat over comments about the Manchester United captain’s assist record.
The former United skipper had claimed on The Overlap last month that Fernandes once admitted choosing to pass rather than shoot while chasing the Premier League assist record. The problem? Fernandes had actually said the opposite in the original interview.
The Portuguese midfielder pushed back on The Diary of a CEO, accusing Keane of telling a “lie” and making it clear he wanted a conversation with the 54-year-old to sort out what he felt were misinterpreted remarks.
That call has now happened.
Speaking on Wednesday’s Stick to Football podcast, Keane revealed the pair spoke at length and drew a line under the row.
“He apologised, I forgave him, no problem, but no it was a good chat,” Keane said, with a hint of a smile. He described it as a “lovely chat” and “a nice, mature conversation”, stressing that the disagreement had been handled directly rather than allowed to simmer through media soundbites.
Keane explained that Fernandes had reached out after the reaction to the earlier podcast episode.
“There was a reaction after what we said on the podcast a few weeks ago and he reached out to me and wanted a chat… I called him and we had a lovely chat,” Keane said. “A lovely chat about a bit of everything.”
The former midfielder also used the moment to reflect on the way modern punditry can blur lines between criticism and communication.
“When we do podcasts or games, sometimes you think you say something afterwards and you communicate something and it doesn’t come across properly, so people get upset and he said he wanted to talk to me,” Keane admitted.
For all the warmth of the exchange, Keane was keen to underline that he still prefers a certain distance from current professionals.
“I like having boundaries with players. I don’t want to be speaking to players every few weeks or their agents, I don’t want to go down that road,” he said. “But every now and then a player might reach out, so I think it was important I spoke to him.”
The conversation, Keane suggested, went well beyond one disputed anecdote.
“There has been lots going on and lots reported. He’s obviously a big player for United, I’m an ex-United player and I think the idea of this communicating and having a proper conversation, I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I think he did as well. Nice chat about a bit of everything and I felt better afterwards.”
No grand reconciliation statement. No staged photo. Just two Manchester United captains, past and present, picking up the phone and sorting it out themselves.
