Incredibly, as we approach the 20th anniversary of Saipan and the shockwaves it sent back home in Ireland, a new detail has come to light on why Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy fell out.
Miguel Delaney of The Independent spoke to Man United's former power dynamic coach Mick Clegg ahead of the publication of his book.
During that chat, Clegg revealed that Keane felt Clegg could be Ireland's secret weapon and campaigned for him to be brought along to the now notorious tiny island in the Pacific as part of Ireland's staff.
But McCarthy reportedly shot down the idea, rebuffing his skipper with the rationale of 'I don’t know him. He’s not coming. He’s not part of the team.'
The piece is full of fascinating tidbits including how Keane had dreams of the Old Trafford coach turning The Boys in Green into a 'small SAS unit' that would 'strike fear' into opponents at the 2002 World Cup.
Keane is described as saying: “I want you to come and train myself and some of the players I’ve talked to.
“We want your work with us because we feel it would be really good for the team to have somebody like you, as a motivator, too.
"We’re a small unit, but we can come out and really surprise people. I want you with me. I need you with me.”
In the least surprising tidbit within the article, Clegg says Keane was left 'seething' about McCarthy's decision not to let him have his own way.
While early in his career Keane famously enjoyed regular nights out just like most footballers in the early 1990s, he became more focussed on his diet and fitness regime as he aged.
Clegg testifies to this by revealing that around that time the Cork legend's body fat was just 5.5% - making him the lowest in the entire Premier League.
Clegg also recalls: "He was very power-based, attack, attack, which is why he loved doing the boxing."
If Keane had that ambitious a vision for what kind of threat Ireland could pose in Japan and South Korea, it adds even more context as to why he lost his temper so much when he saw the shoddy facilities offered up at the R&R pre-tournament retreat.
