Roy Keane was left reeling last night after being handed a record £150,000 fine and a five-match ban - which he will have to serve when he is fit.
After a seven-hour hearing at the Reebok Stadium, in Bolton the 31-year-old Manchester United skipper was found guilty on two misconduct charges relating to his recently released autobiography.
And, when his punishment was announced shortly after the verdicts, Keane learned that it will run from November 4th, just days after United manager Alex Ferguson believed his captain would return from a hip operation.
It rules Keane out of all domestic matches, starting with the League Cup third round clash with Leicester at Old Trafford on November 5th and including the Maine Road Manchester derby the following Saturday and the crunch encounter with Liverpool on December 1st.
He will return to domestic action against Arsenal the following weekend, although he will be available for United's remaining Champions League group games for the duration of his ban.
In comparison to the FA, who relied on the Cork-born player's book and video evidence to state their case, Keane, who it is reported will net almost £2million from a controversial autobiography, which also includes graphic details of his summer World Cup walk-out, assembled a huge list of witnesses in an attempt to clear his name.
Ferguson, who only returned from his recent trip to South Africa yesterday, Keane's ghost-writer Eamon Dunphy, a high ranking official from publishers Penguin and even, it is believed, a member of Manchester City's medical staff were all in attendance, alongside club solicitor Maurice Watkins, Keane's own lawyer Michael Kennedy and QC Thomas Shields.
However, a three-man disciplinary panel, chaired by FA disciplinary chief Barry Bright, concluded that Keane's tackle on Manchester City's Alfie Haaland at Old Trafford in April 2001 was "improperly motivated by revenge" and also that he had profited from the tackle by going over the details in his book.
"Manchester United's Roy Keane has tonight been found guilty on both counts of misconduct by the FA," read an FA statement.
"Keane will receive a five-match suspension, commencing on November 4th and a £150,000 fine, both subject to appeal within 14 days."
Apart from the huge fine, effectively two weeks wages for one of England's highest paid players, plus costs from both sides, the FA have followed chief executive Adam Crozier's stated aim to crack down on foul play by ensuring Keane will sit out his ban.
In the build-up to United's Premiership encounter with Everton nine days ago, Ferguson claimed Keane would be back in action "within a month", following the hip operation many believed was timed to include any suspension he might incur for his revelations.
Last night, however, Keane and his manager, the only senior United official to see a transcript of the book before its release, joined Watkins in a show of solidarity immediately after the hearing, as it was announced he would consider an appeal over the next few days."After such a long day, now is not the time to make quick decisions, so we will be reviewing the question of appeal over the next few days," said Watkins.
Despite the legal arguments, which are thought to have centred around a belief that Dunphy had "incorrectly paraphrased" Keane's words and also that the Irishman had effectively already served a three-match ban for the tackle, the case against him seemed clear cut.
