ROY KEANE RETIREMENT: Perhaps we will never know the full truth. From beginning to end we have had versions and spins and rumours. One certainty for now. Roy Keane's international career is at an end. How it got that way will be argued about for years. Tom Humphries on contradictions at Old Trafford

The after-shocks of Saipan continued yesterday, with the latest fissure opening at Old Trafford where Manchester United and Alex Ferguson issued a statement which flatly contradicted some claims made by their own club captain Roy Keane on Tuesday.

In announcing his retirement from international football this week Keane gave a version of events which portrayed him as having been eager to return to the Irish set-up right until last Friday morning, when Manchester United confronted him with some hard facts about his medical condition.

This version tallied broadly with that of Brian Kerr, who felt that his meeting had resulted in an unequivocal commitment from Keane that he would return imminently to the Irish squad. There was dispute over the chronology of events leading to the premature announcement of Keane's final decision, but agreement about the content of the meeting. It is believed that Keane was so enthusiastic about returning that he himself suggested coming to Scotland to begin the process of re-integration.

However, early yesterday, as it emerged that Manchester United plc and Ferguson were taking a sizeable portion of the backlash from the Irish public, the club moved to protect their market and left Keane looking isolated and perhaps duplicitous.

In exculpating themselves from the debacle, United claim that Keane had several meetings with Kerr, that he had prior knowledge of the medical advice as regards his hip, that basically any decision taken about his international future was that of Keane alone.

The implications could be far reaching. Keane presumably felt that whatever he was doing last week he ultimately obeyed the will of his employers, however forcibly that was expressed to him. Having done so he could have expected to take the disappointment of the Irish public on the chin. The least he would have expected for his loyalty to United was the same in return. If the club was to absorb some blame then so be it.

Instead he has been made to look foolish and isolated. According to United their captain, knowing what his medical condition was, or at least what United's view of it was, went to a hotel room and swooned before Kerr before coming to the next morning and deciding that he'd been a little silly.

For Keane, who throughout his career has made a point of always taking responsibility for his own words and actions, to be portrayed by his employers as weak and vacillating will surely cause tension within Old Trafford.

Some of the points of difference in the accounts given by Keane and United are baffling. United say: "Before Roy went to meet Brian Kerr he sat down with Manchester United's medical team, Dr Mike Stone and physio Rob Swire, and felt the FAI needed to be made aware of all the medical issues. Dr Mike Stone sent a medical report to Brian Kerr explaining the nature of Roy's injury."

This is a direct contradiction of Keane's version of events and indeed Kerr's, wherein all consultation at Manchester United took place on Friday and pre-empted Keane's U-turn.

Keane pointed the finger at Old Trafford when it came to explaining his change of heart, suggesting that there was nothing he could have done. Again Manchester United say different. "It has been in no one's interest to persuade Roy Keane to retire from international football. Based purely on medical grounds and not football issues, Roy has decided to do what is best for him and his family."

On an issue where perhaps everyone thought the account was closed, there are yet more reckonings to be done.