Roy Keane maintains that he was not criticising the Republic of Ireland players in his now-infamous Euro 2012 rant.
Keane, speaking on Today FM this week, was asked to explain the comments he made on ITV following Ireland’s 4-0 defeat to Spain at Euro 2012.
“I think the players and even the supporters, they all have to change their mentality. It’s just nonsense from players speaking after the games about how great the supporters are. Listen, the supporters want to see the team doing a lot better and not giving daft goals away like that. I’m not too happy with all that nonsense.
“To praise the supporters for sake of it, let’s change that attitude towards Irish supporters. They want to see the team winning – let’s not kid ourselves, we are a small country, we are up against it, but let’s not just go along for the sing-song every now and again.”
Ireland’s assistant manager insists the above criticism was aimed at the fans who were content to sing the Fields of Athenry towards the end of their second group game in Gdansk.
“I was talking about the mentality of supporters sometimes,” Keane clarified on Wednesday night.
“I truly believe players that went to the European Championships last time believed that they would get out of the group. It was very, very difficult. When you lose your first game, it’s very hard to come back from it.
“I didn’t say for one minute that I felt the players were going over there, just happy to be there. I thought it was more the mentality of the supporters
“And we have that belief in this group but, like I’ve said, it’s easier said than done.”
