Derby County manager Wayne Rooney has come to the defence of former Manchester United teammate Roy Keane over the incident that ended his  career at Old Trafford in 2005.

Keane was the Manchester United skipper in the opening months of the time Wayne Rooney spent at the Theatre of Dreams. He left the Red Devils in November 2005 following an argument with then manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

In a MUTV interview, Keane played the role of a pundit as he criticised his teammates in the aftermath of the disappointing 3-1 loss to Middlesbrough. Keane  was highly critical of five players during the interview that was never aired.

John O’Shea, Darren Fletcher, Kieran Richardson, Alan Smith and Rio Ferdinand were all criticised by their skipper at the time.

The interview infuriated Ferguson prompting him to summon a team meeting where the video was played and Keane said the players criticised didn’t have any issue with it as revealed in the second autobiography of Keane.

In his criticism of Fletcher, Keane said his wife would have tackled better than he did for one of the goals conceded by the team and that the player didn’t have any issue with him over it. Keane said Ferguson, his assistant Carlos Queiroz and other team officials were visibly furious with him.

Ferguson had a different account of events in his own second biography as he said that Keane turned on him during the meeting as he has a sharp tongue. Keane left the club by mutual consent shortly after that team meeting.

On his own account of events with the Sunday Times, Wayne Rooney said that he disagrees with how the interview had been portrayed. Wayne Rooney said that he saw nothing wrong with what Keane said in that infamous interview.