Roy Keane called out for Michael Carrick wife spat as 'embarrassment to football' slammed

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Former Manchester United star Roy Keane has faced fresh criticism for his remarks about Michael Carrick's wife Lisa. Keane made the comments as Carrick, who joined United as a long-term successor to the Irish midfielder in the 2000s, began his role as United's interim manager for the second half of the season.

"Well his wife can always come in because she has got a bit of a big mouth sometimes. She is probably doing the team talk," Keane said on Stick to Football .

Keane has been a vocal critic of United's decision to appoint Carrick as Ruben Amorim's successor for the rest of the campaign. His comment about the Englishman's other half struck a chord in particular with former Ireland international Eamon Dunphy.

"Roy Keane greeted Michael Carrick's moment by having a go at Carrick's wife, Lisa," Dunphy wrote for the Irish Mirror . "Keane is becoming an embarrassment - to football, to himself, and perhaps to Ireland."

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Dunphy continued: "This stems from a row between Carrick's wife and Keane back in 2014. But it is not right - ever - to attack a woman in a high-profile situation like this. It is cheap. It is lazy. And it is wrong.

"I feel ashamed for football, and for Ireland, because of Keane's antics. I feel for Carrick. He has taken on a big job at Old Trafford. He is trying to rebuild something meaningful. Keane, meanwhile, is doing adverts where he insults people for money, becoming a parody of the figure he once was.

"But to have your wife publicly attacked by Roy Keane crosses a line. It is too much. And it says far more about Roy Keane than it ever will about Michael Carrick."

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On the pitch, Carrick kicked off his tenure with a dominant victory over Manchester City in the Premier League . The ex-England midfielder had previously held the interim position in 2021, bridging the gap between Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's dismissal and Ralf Rangnick's temporary appointment, though his latest result has already had some calling for him to take over permanently in the summer.

United delivered one of their stand-out performances of late against City, putting a dent in their rivals' title aspirations in the process. Second-half goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu sealed victory, but the home side also had further goals ruled out, while City's goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma helped keep the score down.

"Obviously, we had things we wanted to achieve in the game and the boys took it on but tactics are one thing and words another," Carrick said when asked about the win. "You've got to put it on and make it happen, bring it live and everything today was spot on.

"Listen, I'm not going to say too much out of respect for [City manager] Pep Guardiola , he's such an unbelievable, incredible coach and they're such a good team. So it's not for me to pick them apart publicly. I think I wanted us to play to our strengths. We needed to be compact and needed the distances as short as possible between the units and between the positions.

"We needed to move as a team and, a few times, it got a little bit opened up but we still looked dangerous and I thought the front line were fantastic. It was everything what we would hope for, hence getting the good result."

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