Manager Alex Ferguson revealed he expects Roy Keane to lead Manchester United against Millwall at the Millennium Stadium in Saturday's FA Cup final. Keane has been struggling with a hamstring injury but has trained for the last three days without a problem.
"He has trained for the last three days, has suffered no reaction so far and I don't expect he will have one," said the United boss. "You always want your best players on the pitch and he is still the biggest influence on our team.
Keane has previously made his feelings on the FA Cup quite plain in his controversial autobiography.
The FA Cup had lost its relevance, certainly for me. Sure, it was a day out for our families, and everybody who worked hard behind the scenes at the club.
The Wembley myth, the folklore attached to the walk out of the tunnel, the red carpet, meeting the big shots, going up to the Royal Box to receive your medal, a pat on the back from the great and the good (and hopefully the Cup), all of it was bollocks.
Given Keane claimed in a Football Association hearing his book was a rough transcript of a series of conversations used with "artistic licence", it is not certain he is quite so dismissive of the world's most famous domestic cup competition. Certainly, as he danced round Villa Park in delight at securing a final appearance at Arsenal's expense on April 3rd, the indications were Keane's stance had softened.
In fairness, it is easy to get carried away in the jubilation of the moment and, after giving himself a bit of time to think about it, he has opted for a diplomacy.
"It is up to others to judge whether winning the FA Cup constitutes a successful season or not," he said. "At the start of every season, our priorities are the European Cup and the Premiership and we came up short in both competitions. The players and the manager are this club's biggest critics and we have all be disappointed with our performances this year. What we have done is give ourselves a chance to win something and I am certainly not writing off the FA Cup, I still think it is a fantastic competition."
Presumably therefore, Keane has previously thought of the FA Cup as a fantastic competition too, probably when he was lifting it as United skipper in 1999 following the 2-0 win over Newcastle, the second part of the famous Treble. The outspoken midfielder is open to charges of hypocrisy, in the same way Arsene Wenger was after dismissing a competition he had won for the previous two seasons following that Paul Scholes-inspired semi-final setback. The truth is, the FA Cup does not matter, but only if you are winning the Premiership or the Champions League. If you are not achieving one of those two aims - and the current United side fall into that category - then the FA Cup matters, a lot.
"We are in this business to win football matches and what that victory over Arsenal did was show some of the younger lads and one or two of the foreign players what it meant to be challenging for trophies," said Keane. "It was a great boost for everyone but we can't get too carried away because we still have to go to the Millennium Stadium and win it. We would be showing immense disrespect to Millwall if we were to assume that is what will happen."
