‘I got on well with Roy Keane... until I asked to leave’ Jonathan Walters hasn’t spoken to his former boss since their falling out at international level

Jonathan Walters during a match for Ipswich Town
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Plenty of players have faced the wrath of Roy Keane over the years – and Jonathan Walters is among them.

The former Stoke City and Republic of Ireland striker played under the Manchester United legend and Ipswich Town back in the late 2000s.

All was well between the pair until Walters angled for a move from the Championship outfit to the Premier League, which he ultimately made to join Stoke.

Speaking to FourFourTwo in our latest issue, he explained how his relationship with Keane broke down dramatically as a result.

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"I was captain under Roy and always got on very well with him," explains Walters, "until I asked to leave. I had ambitions to be in the Premier League; that's how the very public fallout happened.

"Things were said and I wasn't going to back down because I felt they were way out of order. When he was assistant manager of Ireland, I approached him and we laughed about it; we got on fine until questions were thrown at some players, including myself, about how we were training and managing ourselves.

"You can't be called unprofessional if you play 100 Premier League games – as I did – by carefully managing a knee issue. On international duty, you'd sometimes train for four or five days in a row before a game; I could, but I knew it'd cause issues.

"Again, things were said that were way out of order. I told part of the story about what happened at Ipswich and Roy wasn't too happy about it. He came out publicly and said a few things that were below the belt. What's interesting is that there are some things I could come back with, but I've decided not to because there's no point in going tit-for-tat for years.

"I haven't spoken to him since."

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Tom Hancock

Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...

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