10 Best Ever Football Insults

An infamous insult that resulted in Roy Keane being sent home from the 2002 World Cup rather than representing the Republic of Ireland, it's fair to say that the Manchester United legend didn't mince his words in a put-down teammate Niall Quinn describes as "the most surgical slaughtering anyone has ever got”.

Keane was allegedly less than impressed with Ireland's facilities & preparations ahead of the tournament so left the training camp only to return and (in his words) be ambushed by a team meeting. When manager Mick McCarthy accused the team captain of faking an injury it was the final straw and Keane responded with a torrent of abuse that saw his World Cup involvement ended in an instant:

"Mick, you're a liar... You’re a f*cking w*nker. I didn’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager and I don’t rate you as a person... I’ve got no respect for you. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your b*llocks."

Once you see it written down (and that's the summarised version!) you can understand why McCarthy decided his position was untenable and Keane had to be sent home.