Roy Keane is under investigation by Irish police after a man was allegedly assaulted at the Republic of Ireland’s team hotel 48 hours before they were scheduled to play Scotland in a Euro 2016 qualifier.
Keane, assistant coach to Ireland manager Martin O’neill, is alleged to have been involved in a heated exchange with a man who had asked him to sign a copy of his autobiography at the Links Hotel in Portmarnock after team training at around 4pm.
The man was reportedly later taken to the hospital in an ambulance, with a Gardi spokesman confirming that an incident at the hotel is under investigation, despite no criminal complaint having been made.
A statement was released by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) on Wednesday night that revealed Keane himself called the police.
“Following inaccurate media reports which refer to an incident involving a member of the public this evening at the Republic of Ireland team hotel, we wish to clarify that Roy Keane called the Gardai following the incident,” it read.
“The manager, Martin O’Neill and the FAI are fully aware of the circumstances surrounding this event and the assistant manager has their full support.”
The Gardai are understood to be studying CCTV footage to discover how the events unfolded, although one source quoted by the Irish Daily Mirror claimed the incident had quickly spiralled out of control.
“One guy was reading Roy’s book and wanted him to sign it. I think Roy told him no and then there were words exchanged,” he said.
“It all just kicked off from there. There was lots of roaring and shouting after. An ambulance was called and your man was taken away. The players were coming in and out of the bar before and then they were called into a private room. Everybody in the bar is talking about it. You don’t see something like that every day.”
Ireland are due to fly to Scotland on Thursday for the Group D match.
Leave a Reply