Roy Keane reveals real reason behind his Manchester United exit

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Bengaluru, August 21: Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane in a recent revelation has opened up about why he actually left the Old Trafford side for Celtic in 2005.

The former Red Devils captain reportedly had a fall out with Sir Alex Ferguson, and it was generally believed that the long standing quarrel was the reason he exited the club.

Keane played his last match for Manchester United in 2005 in a 4-1 thrashing of Middlesbrough, and the reason behind his exit was believed to be the later action of the match.

It's been uncovered that the Republic of Ireland footballer gave a scorching interview to MUTV - the club's own particular TV media, after the match in which he intensely criticized his colleagues like John O'Shea, Alan Smith, Kieran Richardson, Darren Fletcher and most notably Rio Ferdinand, who was the focal point of the criticism.

The interview was never telecasted and the midfielder left the club two weeks after the incident. And all these years, it's been prescribed that those activities were the reason for his sudden exit.

However, now in a recent conversation, Keane has rubbished those stories and suggested that it was really another episode that conveyed the conclusion to his United profession.

He told the Limerick Leader: "The only reason I ended up leaving Man United was I appealed a €5,000 fine. If I hadn't appealed the fine I wouldn't have left Man United - don't be brainwashed by the propaganda and lies.

"It is peanuts, you get fined that for being late for training at United. I appealed because I felt I shouldn't have been fined for speaking about a match on the club station."

"Have I stepped out of line? Damn right I have. Man United fined me about half a million pounds over my career but that is because I was sent off and I always held my hands up. Ironically when I appealed a €5,000 fine that's when I left the club.

"I wished they played this video. It is propaganda, [saying] 'we had to destroy it'. How do you even destroy a video? I left with my head held up high, I was fine with my actions, I always felt my intentions were to do the best for Man United."

Keane left United on November 18, 2005, after playing 480 matches for the club and after a short spell with Celtic, he retired from playing. He is currently the assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national team.