Throwback: Roy Keane recalls 4am fight with Schmeichel at Man Utd

In August 2021, Roy Keane was the star guest on Gary Neville-fronted series The Overlap. The Manchester United legend was predictably great value. 

Answering questions on a wide range of topics, our attentions were drawn by a description of a fight with goalkeeper and team-mate Peter Schmeichel – two big personalities who didn’t always see eye to eye at Old Trafford.

In the interview, Keane joked that Schmeichel was ‘over-rated’. That statement was put to the former Denmark international during an appearance with beIN Sports a short while later.

“I actually don’t…” was Schmeichel’s curt reply when asked by presenter Richard Keys whether he had a response to that assessment.

In his second book, Keane wrote: “I had a bust-up with Peter when we were on a pre-season tour of Asia, in 1998, just after I came back from my cruciate injury. I think we were in Hong Kong. There was drink involved.

“Myself and Nicky Butt had had a night out, and we bumped into Peter at the hotel reception desk. It was about two in the morning. We said a few words to one another – a bit of banter, a bit of stick. I went to Nicky’s room for some room service, had a sandwich, got up to go – and Peter was waiting for me, outside the room.

“He said, ‘I’ve had enough of you. It’s time we sorted this out. So I said, ‘Okay.’

“And we had a fight. It felt like ten minutes. There was a lot of noise – Peter’s a big lad.”

But the written word doesn’t do justice to Keane’s comedic delivery, so make sure you check out the clip below.

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