CONTROLLED RAGE

As 'Saipan' recreates Ireland captain Roy Keane's nuclear row with Mick McCarthy before the 2002 World Cup, Jim White asks why the footballer turned pundit is so deeply compelling

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There was a moment on Sunday that spoke loud and clear about Roy Keane’s standing in the world. It happened in a London cinema at a special screening of Saipan, the new movie dramatising Keane’s infamous walkout from the Irish football squad ahead of the 2002 World Cup. After it had finished, a Q&A session was staged, featuring the film’s directors, husband and wife Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, alongside its two stars, Eanna Hardwicke, who is quite magnificent as Keane, and Steve Coogan, who deftly characterises his adversary, Mick McCarthy.

The quartet were being quizzed about the project's backstory, and the question on everyone's mind was asked: what was the man himself's involvement? Had Roy Keane given it his blessing? Indeed, had they ever considered inviting him on board as an executive producer? “Oh my God,” said Leburn, the tremor audible in his voice. “The thought of having Roy Keane on set.”

There was no need for him to elucidate. A mumble of recognition spread through the cinema as everyone pictured Keane in his Methuselah beard, standing at the side of the studio as the camera rolled, a look of disdain spreading across his features as he hears the director tell Hardwicke that the latest take was absolutely spot on. “Why are you getting so excited about what he's just done?” you could almost hear Keane sighing. “It's his job.”