Football pundit Roy Keane was left utterly furious and embarrassed after his mobile phone erupted during a recording of the popular podcast Stick to Football, creating a moment of pure irony that his co-hosts found hysterically funny.
The Moment of Comic Chaos
The incident occurred as former Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole was explaining an anecdote. The studio was suddenly filled with the sound of a ringing phone, causing cries of surprise and laughter from the rest of the panel.
Gary Neville, seizing the moment, ecstatically declared the blunder was 'Stick to Football history' and joked about the 'ill-discipline'. A visibly mortified Keane, shaking his head, admitted, 'I'm raging with that. That breaks me. My phone's always on silent!'
A Delicious Slice of Irony
The situation was particularly ironic given Keane's own infamous history with mobile phone etiquette. While he was manager of Ipswich Town, he once publicly admonished a journalist for failing to silence his device during a press conference.
Keane revealed to his co-hosts that the very same journalist had recently approached him to apologise. 'I asked him, "why didn't you switch it off all those years ago?",' Keane recalled. 'He came back and said, "I was nervous, I didn't know what to do." But yeah, he apologised.'
Management Talk Surfaces Amidst the Mayhem
This phone-related mishap comes just days after Keane was surprisingly touted for the top job at his former club, Manchester United. His ex-teammates Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes both voiced their strong belief that he should be considered for the managerial role.
Speaking on his podcast, The Good, The Bad and The Football, Butt expressed his confusion that United had never approached Keane. 'I can't for the life of me fathom how nobody has sat down with him,' Butt stated, highlighting Keane's successful stint at Sunderland, where he led the club to promotion to the Premier League in 2007.
Butt argued that Keane's personality and deep understanding of the club made him an ideal candidate, suggesting he could even have been a valuable assistant to past managers like David Moyes. 'Roy is a very astute person, he's a very clever bloke,' Butt added, comparing his management style to that of the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.
Despite this strong endorsement from his peers, Keane has not held a managerial position since he left Ipswich Town in 2011, with his last role being an assistant coach for the Republic of Ireland until 2018.
