EX-IPSWICH TOWN goalkeeper Shane Supple has defended former team-mate Jonathan Walters after the striker became involved in a war-of-words with Roy Keane this past week.
Keane, who managed both players at Ipswich and as assistant manager to Martin O’Neill with Ireland, was critical of Walters while speaking at an Off the Ball roadshow in Dublin last week.
Keane appeared to criticise Walters for an interview he gave on The Late Late Show in May, discussing the passing of his mother, his wife’s miscarriage and his daughter being diagnosed with scoliosis.
The pair have endured a strained relationship during their time involved with club and country. Keane said: “Imagine if Jon won a trophy. He talks a good game. He goes on the TV — on about how he was harshly treated by me.
“Not kicking a ball for Burnley for two or three years. On TV, crying about his family situation. You know, how about lying low for a while, taking it easy? Have a look at his medals? Wouldn’t take long.”
Supple, who worked briefly under Keane at Ipswich for three months before leaving English football behind to come home to Ireland, said he was heavily disappointed by his comments.
“Listen, Roy is Roy and he says what he wants to say,” Supple says speaking to The42. “I definitely didn’t agree with how close to the bone he went. I thought it was very much below the belt. I know Johnny quite well and would’ve been good friends with him from our time together at Ipswich.
“With Jon’s background, I just thought it was poor to go that low, really. I don’t see the point in it. It baffles me sometimes, but he’s brought in to do a show and maybe he’s giving the people what they wanted.
“A lot of people have a lot of time for him [Keane] and listen to what he has to say and take it on board as gospel. But that shouldn’t be the case, because that was a really low blow.”
Supple has spoken previously about how Keane was a big help when he decided to return home. Disillusioned by football in England, he parted ways with Ipswich in 2009 after five years with the Tractor Boys.
The 32-year-old said Keane helped facilitate his move back to Dublin and thanked him personally when the goalkeeper was called into the Ireland squad during his spell with Bohemians for a friendly against France in May 2018.
“I had fantastic dealings with Roy in terms of me and my particular situation when I left Ipswich at the time,” Supple explains. “He was great on that side of things. I didn’t have a whole lot of time with him, three months probably, when he came in. Things didn’t go too well for him at Ipswich but I didn’t have enough time there to say what kind of manager he was.
“All I can see is the way his career in management has panned out. When I was looking to get home, he was great. That’s what surprises me sometimes the way he does speak and some of the things he brought up last week. It’s just really strange. There’s two sides to the man.”
Supple said Keane’s decision to openly criticise Walters, having been so honest about his personal struggles in his family life, left a bitter taste. He says the Keane he dealt with and the one speaking last week were like different people entirely.
“We’ve all seen Roy since he’s stepped in and out of management and in the media that some of his comments are going to be controversial. It didn’t surprise me, I suppose, but I just thought it was really poor to do that,” he says.
“To question someone like Johnny and what he’s done in the game, and how outspoken he has been on the issue of people’s mental health — he’s helped an awful lot of people since he’s done that. I just think it’s poor form. It’s crazy that it gets so much attention. I know this stuff sells and that, but I just don’t think it should. It is what it is.”
Supple, while still holding his old manager to account, points out that Keane may have been playing up to the crowd in a particular setting. But he stresses that his own dealings with the Cork man and some of his comments in the media seem like night and day.
“It doesn’t seem like the same person. If there’s two different personalities, I’m not sure. But it’s a strange one. Maybe he was just adapting to the situation he was in and he felt he wanted to do or needed to do. He holds a lot of weight with a lot of people that look up to him and admire him, but I don’t know how you can look up and admire stuff like what he said last week.”
Supple, who won an All-Ireland medal with the Dublin senior footballers in 2013 and enjoyed two-and-a-half impressive seasons in the League of Ireland with Bohemians, retired at the end of last year.
Being involved in a senior Ireland camp was a special moment to remember, he says, and it also gave him the chance to thank Keane for all his help during their brief time together at Ipswich ten years ago.
“At the Stade de France on the pitch before the France friendly I got to speak to him briefly,” the former goalkeeper says.
“When I went in I was playing with Bohemians at the time and was in and out of the camp a little bit, so when I got over to Paris I just saw him and he came straight over to me. Roy started asking about what I was doing now. So I got the chance to say thanks and I meant it, because he genuinely did help me big time in that situation.”
Shane Supple was at the Sport Ireland Campus today to help launch a new season of action on the eir sport pack. eir sport viewers can watch every game in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League plus UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifiers on Virgin Media Sport, which is now part of the eir sport pack, as well as live FA Cup games, SSE Airtricity League games & the Republic of Ireland’s U21 Home Qualifiers.
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I’ve always been a big fan of Roy Keane and defended him during many footballing debates with people over the years but he should have left that part out of his dig at Walters. It was more than enough to slag off his lack of medals without bringing his family into it. In hindsight it seems Keane got caught up in the moment, felt good about getting a laugh from the crowd and went too far. Looking back I’d say he regrets that comment but at the same time there are too many people suffering with mental health issues that it was unacceptable to have a go at Walters for his tv interview about his family issues. Maybe it’s now Keane that should lay low for a while.
@Glenn Harman: if Keane had a brain he would regret lots of things
@Glenn Harman: I doubt Keane regrets anything. He knew exactly what he was saying. He is a bitter angry man. His comments were Trumpesqe in their nature the way he tried to belittle Walters. The sad thing was that the muppets in the crowd lapped it up and no one from offtheball saw fit yo pull him up.
@Glenn Harman: well said.
@Glenn Harman: stop fecking fighting everyone Roy, just surrender and smile
@Glenn Harman:
Roy has a personality disorder.
It helped, in some respects, as a player but is no good to him anymore.
He needs to control it or prepare for longer periods of isolation and loneliness.
Some would say he’s just a mouth but that would be a bit simple and unfair.
@Kevin: the irony is Walters seems to have done really well out of it and guess what he is doing lots and lots of interviews.
@Glenn Harman: He is a knob head always will and always has been…..he walked out of a world cup finals throwing a tantrum because Fergie wanted him back for united…..if he done that in any other country he would be an outcast for it….this is just another example of what he is all about.
@Glenn Harman: I have always had great time for Keane but he needs to man up know and apologise to Walter’s who gave everything he had to the Jersey and we would have been list without him there for a few years.
@Glenn Harman: Keane has always been a egotistical self obsessed bully boy with no class whatsoever. A bitter and angry man who didn’t had any success in life after he hang up his boots and even as a footballer he is much overrated.
Mocking other people over a tragedy or mental health issues is another low though!
It‘s strange how this traitor to his own country is still held in such high regard!
What did Roy Keane ever do for Ireland apart from abandoning ship when the going got tough?
@m flynsk: he first and foremost is your average school yard bully!
No class whatsoever and a thick knob on and off the pitch!
@Matt Beaumont: Matt just replying to the football side of your comment. Roy Keane was not overrated. He was a world class football player and that cant be questioned because he done it (medals etc). As for what did he do for Ireland. Did you watch the qualifying campaign for 2002 world cup? His performances against holland/portugal were top top drawer.
@Glenn Harman: Keane is a bully. I’ve stood up for him when I believed he was being harshly treated. But he is a sad old man angry and unfulfilled and willing to stick it to anyone who doesn’t see it his way
Whether it was harsh or not, the simple truth is, is he said it. And nobody at the time, either on the stage or in the crowd, stepped up to challenge it.
It’s the world we live in.
@Eoin Nolan: the lads were scared of him. There’s an untouchable vibe when it comes to Keane. He commanded the stage. It seemed to feed off on Neville who got v cocky and had a go at Joe Molloy. Some of it was v unnecessary. I like Keane and he had the presence and delivery if a good stand up comic but some of his carry on was quite narcissistic. The looks he gives I wouldn’t have pulled him up either.
@Eoin Nolan: yeah the world we live in indeed….this article is basically a fairly low profile ex player that has been signed up to help promote Eir Sports Packages -jumps on the Roy Keane media coverage bandwagon to justify getting a whole article out of a disagreement that has nothing to do with him at all but he is happy to air in public….and the sheeple start jumping all over Roy Keane again…..the world we live in indeed.
@Eoin Nolan: challenge what?? FFS, is everyone and everything beyond criticism. What he said was shite but it was said. We arent in a school playground.
@Bruce Van der Gutschmitzer: stop defending the talking heads of newstalk – they inherited that show let’s not forget – second captains are the original off the ball – Keane and Neville achieved the dream and won everything domestically.
@Dave Hammond: fanboy much?
Really enjoy otb but they conducted a shocking show on the night. Got cowered by Neville putting them in there box and failed to challenge anything Keane said after that. Should have pulled him on the Walters stuff for sure. Also should have been challenged on the fact he still thinks he’s capable of management…laughable.
@Paul Crampsie: the Walters stuff? How many things did he say that were wrong or untrue?
@Paul O Mahony: seen it on YouTube, not sure why everyone is getting so carried away, this article mentioned more about Walters personal life than I ever knew, Keane just mentioned the word “family” i think people may be taking it totally out of context because Keane is box office…. The audience seemed like a pack of clowns tho, laughing and jeering at every word was cringe..
@Paul O Mahony: why say it at all Paul, Walters went on TV talking about family circumstance…etc, standard chat show fair. Also gets blasted for being injured and not winning enough…like the majority of pro footballers everywhere. Keane ran to the media post Saipan(book and tv) when it suited him and constantly pulled sickies with Ireland only to be available for United next match( post World Cup play off v Iraq). He has zero self awareness which is why he has never developed as a person or manager.
Did keane not just state a fact to be fair. 100% true what he said. John Walters spent more time doing interviews than playing football. Look if you want decent lad who sit and have chat about your problems and life John may well be the man. If you want someone to drag you through the muck to reach your goals and then push you a little more roys the man. Hell of alot more ppl we should be looking at for inspiration before we head to Irish soccer team.
@Doire: someone who deliberately breaks a fellow professional‘s leg is a disrespectful knob. He is a bully and a traitor and shouldn’t be given any more attention!
An overrated knob jockey with a dubious character!
Legend, me hole maybe for Utd but certainly not for Ireland!
@Matt Beaumont: bitter much ?
@Matt Beaumont: you’re forgetting that Keane had those kinds of leg breaker tackles done on him all the time. Every team had a hatchet man back in those days, razor Ruddock, Vinnie Jones, Stuart Pearce, Viera, Duncan ferguson
@Stanley Baggins: he also never broke anybody’s leg but let’s not let facts get in the way here.
@Matt Beaumont: didnt break any legs on purpose, was sent home from world cup as thats what you refer to as a traitor. Overrated yet regarded, at least in premiership as one of the best ever. Winners and champions have dubious charachters.
Ah christ, stop flogging this story to death ! Every day now
@Chris Tobin: couldn’t agree more. It’s like how many more angles can we get on Roys throwaway line which was short of compassion admittedly but how surprising really is that given the things he’s said and done in the past? It was pretty much a given he’d say something controversial if you sat him in front of a microphone.
Keane. Great footballer. Dire manager. Brain of a pigeon. Social skills of a nettle.
Roy Keane has very little respect for players , he appears to believe that everyone has to agree with what his philosophy is, or was as a player . He appears to have no idea how to manage people and therefore is not fit to be in charge of any club. He will end up being sacked every time. Just go away and walk your dog for Gods sake.
Keane is a toe rag.