Roy Keane will discover early next month whether or not he will face disciplinary action and a possible suspension over his autobiography.
The Manchester United captain is likely to be charged with misconduct by the Football Association (FA) after his apparent admission he targeted Manchester City's Alf Inge Haaland for revenge in a now-infamous tackle in April last year.
If he is found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute, he could be suspended for up to four matches.
But the FA is determined to wait until it has read the full passage in which Keane discusses the incident rather than relying on extracts that have appeared.
With no advance copies expected to be made available, this means that the FA must wait until August 31st, when the book is due to be published, before they can take a decision.
FA chief executive Adam Crozier said last weekend: "It doesn't matter who the player is, what club they are, what league they perform in. If there's a charge to be answered then a charge will be answered."
Describing the extracts he had already seen as "not pleasant reading", he added: "Unless there's something particularly different in the book, we will be taking a very close look at it".
Keane's ghostwriter, Eamon Dunphy, also revealed he used "artistic licence" and "paraphrased" the midfielder's views.
If Keane is charged, the FA would then have to consider this admission, although the former Republic of Ireland captain did proof-read the manuscript in advance.
AFP