Roy Keane once revealed how 2 Manchester United teammates smoked inside toilet during Premier League games; here’s how he reacted
Roy Keane once revealed that Fabien Barthez and Laurent Blanc used to smoke during half-time at Manchester United. He claimed that there was nothing he would do about it but would have shouted if they were Irish players.
Speaking to Off The Ball several years ago, Keane recalled being surprised to see French players smoking during half-time of the match. He revealed that they used to do it in the toilets and said via SPORTbible:
"Fabien Barthez and Laurent Blanc used to smoke together in the toilets, at half-time. They were French – they smoked. If it had been a couple of Irish lads, I'd have been shouting at them: Yeh dirty b*****ds – get out!"
Keane spoke about how he himself used to smoke at the age of 11 during an episode of The Overlap in 2024. He revealed that he quit because he wanted to become a footballer, saying:
"82 World Cup, amazing. I remember we used to play football after the games in the evening. In 1982, I would have been 11. I was with my friends and we were playing football and we'd have the odd cigarette when we were about 11. [We were] playing and they went: 'Are you having this?' And I remember going: 'I'm giving them up. I'm giving them up. I want to be a footballer. I'm giving them up, lads'."
Roy Keane joined Manchester United in 1993 and was at the club until 2005. He joined from Nottingham Forest and called it time on his career after a year at Celtic.
Roy Keane recalls how he took diets to extreme ends at Manchester United
Roy Keane also spoke about his diet in the interview with Off The Ball and recalled that he used to take it to extreme ends. He said that the dietitian advised him to quit red meat and had to suggest he start having it again as he had got too skinny soon after.
He said:
"The dietitian decided I was eating too much red meat. I needed to cut back and eat more vegetables. I came home and went on the new diet, but typical me, the man of extremes, I went too far. My body fat went down to 3 or 4 per cent. I went too skinny. Mike Stone, the club doctor, did some blood tests. My iron levels were gone. I had no iron in my system. Mike told me I had to go back to eating red meat."
Roy Keane finished his career with seven Premier League medals, four FA Cups and a Champions League.