ANALYSIS: Mick McCarthy had no choice but to send Roy Keane home, argues Mark Lawrenson

To be honest I wasn't stunned by the news about Roy Keane being sent home and I really don't believe that you can fault Mick McCarthy's handling of this whole business. I think Mick has played it absolutely properly.

Initially Mick was willing to overlook Roy's first outburst, he took it on the chin, even if he was thinking 'you little bugger' for the way it was done, but once it happened again Roy made the decision for Mick. There was no way back at that point.

Mick probably put that first outburst down to a one-off, a good old whinge - end of story. He would have thought, 'hold on a minute, he's our best player, he's been absolutely inspirational in our qualification games, why don't I try and turn this around and put the ball back in his court by saying right Roy, you've had your moan, we'll try and improve the situation - and then when match day came say go on then, we tried to do our bit for you, you do your bit for us, yourself and the team.'

But then there was yet another sequel, so in the end Mick's decision was made for him.

After what had happened the other day the seeds of doubt were, obviously, in Roy's head. In one sense I feel a bit sorry for him because he's wound himself up to such a degree that in the end it was almost as if he had, maybe not a death wish, but that he wanted somebody to say 'right, clear off, go home'.

I'm trying to take a step back here and look at it dispassionately - when I do I almost think that when Roy got to Saipan he realised he didn't want to be there. It would almost seem like he did everything in his power to make sure that he wasn't there for too long.

He lost the plot in training the other day - I would have had more sympathy for him if he'd kept it under his hat and, as soon as he walked off, said Mick, could I have a word? Tell him this, this and this is absolutely bloody awful, have your row, but by having a public rant about everything it put the manager under pressure.

He's a loner, he rooms on his own. People will say what's wrong with that? - well, a lot of footballers, when they go on a three or four week trip, like to have a room-mate because you've got someone to bounce off. If you lose your rag your team-mate will say, hold on a minute, from where I'm sitting it's maybe not as bad as you think.

I honestly believe that when he got there, he sat there and thought I've got three, maybe five weeks, here and he just wound himself up and maybe, not being particularly close to anybody, made it worse because everybody needs a best mate - everybody needs somebody to say for Christ sake, get real.

I've got this picture of Keane, a pressure cooker ticking away alone in his hotel room - and not a 20-minute pressure cooker, more like a 20-hour version. He was waiting to explode.

Also, whoever he spoke to the other night told him exactly what he wanted to hear, rather than what they really should have told him, which was get your head down, the first game's not far away, alright, say your piece to Mick McCarthy, but get on with it, it's the World Cup for goodness sake.

After the slanging match with Mick there was no way back, there couldn't be.

Mick is responsible for 22 other professionals - yes, Roy Keane is a world class player, yes, he is our best player, he's fantastic, but - but - there are 22 other gentlemen in this squad and you're there to win matches in the World Cup.

If you think the organisation is bad now....? There's nothing worse than old pros going on about this but it was always a joke.

Reading Tom Humphries' interview with Keane it's clear his frustrations have been there for years. But whoever the manager has been - Mick, Jack, whoever - we've always known in many, many areas the FAI have been amateurish, they really aren't the most professional of organisations, everyone who has played for Ireland knows that.

So, yes, the FAI can take a small percentage of the blame, but probably no more in the circumstances. I just feel like Roy has shot himself in the foot. He handled it poorly.

But this will bring everyone closer together, if that were at all possible because we know one of the reasons we've had this relative success is because we've had this club spirit in an international team, which is most unusual. Lower expectations, probably, which will benefit everybody - I always believed they would struggle to get out of the group. Now? It's almost impossible.

Ultimately, though, it's all extremely sad, especially because we've lost the player who did more than anyone to get us to the World Cup in the first place. Awful. You can feel nothing but sad.

(In an interview with Mary Hannigan)