Roy Keane takes bizarre swipe at Michael Carrick’s – wife 12 years after she criticised him

Carrick was appointed caretaker Man United manager this week

Roy Keane has grabbed the attention of the sporting world this week, after he made an unexpected comment about new caretaker Man United manager Michael Carrick's wife, Lisa Roughead.

The Irish Red Devils legend was speaking on the latest episode of the Overlap's Stick to Football podcast.

Alongside former teammate Gary Neville, Keane discussed the fallout at Old Trafford since Ruben Amorim's departure, leading up to the appointment of Carrick.

Carrick was announced as caretaker on Tuesday, at the end of rigorous recruitment process that saw him go up against former colleague, and once close teammate of Keane's, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

According to Sky Sports, Carrick won out over Ole due to his acceptance that he is unlikely to remain Man United manager beyond the end of his short-term six month contract.

Weighing in on discourse around the new Man United manager, Keane began by saying: "Isn’t it strange, the noises the last few weeks, people saying there needs to be a Man Utd connection? I’m not sure about all that stuff, I’m not sure it necessarily works!"

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Then, leaning back on his own experiences as an elite manager, the former Ireland national team captain said: "When a manager goes in, do you have to go in and have big speeches with the players?

"You go in, say hello, morning." he added.

"At Sunderland I didn’t speak to the players for about 2 days when I went in. Just watched training. Keep them all guessing.

"You don’t have to do a big speech, that’s all very predictable. I thought I’d give them a couple of days just to chill out."

It was after sharing that Sunderland anecdote that the 54-year-old made a surprise reference to Carrick's wife Lisa.

Keane said: "His wife can always come in [if Carrick doesn't do well], cause she’s got a bit of a big mouth sometimes. She's probably doing the team talk."

The apparent reason behind Keane's surprise swipe at Lisa Roughead has since been revealed by The Manchester Evening News.

The MEN report that, back in 2014, after then Man United midfielder Michael Carrick had featured for the Red Devils in a disappointing loss to Olympiakos, he had been criticised by pundit Roy Keane.

After Carrick was recorded in a post match interview, Keane had said: "That interview was just like the performance, flat."

Keane's comments reportedly prompted Lisa to take to social media to say: "Roy Keane what a ****, says anything to get a reaction. That's all done."

She later deleted the tweet, and returned to the platform to say: "Deleted my tweet... Emotions got the better of me."