Now it was by far the biggest story of the year to that point. It caused a huge split in national opinion. Roy Keane was one the biggest footballers in the world. He had become synonymous with a relentless run of trophies at the club.

His manager for the Rep. of Ireland, Mick McCarthy, had been one of our greatest defenders under Jack Charlton. Not blessed pace, but blessed with a great ability to read the game. He was Jack’s captain and now he was manager of the national side.

There had been rumblings for years that Roy was unhappy with the Irish national team setup. It wasn’t good enough. And he saw Mick as enabling it for far too long.

Something was about to give…