Roy Keane was called a 'coward' and 'complete mess of a manager' by Ipswich player he nearly got physical with

Manchester United legend was once labelled as a 'coward' and a 'complete mess of a manager' by a former Ipswich player.

Over the weekend, Keane made headlines at Portman Road after Ipswich's 1-1 draw with United.

The former midfielder was filmed arguing with a fan, with the Irishman heard saying: "I’ll wait for you in the car park and we can discuss it!"

Eventually, members of the security team stepped in to try and diffuse the situation.

During his playing days, Keane played for the likes of Cobh Ramblers, Nottingham Forest, United and Celtic.

He won 17 trophies during his spell at Old Trafford and also built up a reputation for his no-nonsense and tough approach to the game.

Despite being feared by many, former Ipswich, Crystal Palace and Malaga striker Pablo Counago pulled no punches when revealing his true feelings about Keane.

As reported by The Guardian in 2014, the Spaniard hit out at Keane after learning that he had been heavily criticised in the former United man's book in a chapter about his time in charge of Ipswich.

Keane reportedly accused Counago of being lazy and uncommitted.

In response, Counago said: "It seems like he needs to criticise players, managers and directors to keep selling books as he is not able to do anything else in football.

"It is a very sad ending for a person that was so big as a player. As I told him once, I think he is a complete mess as a football manager. As he has said in his book, he wanted to hit me, but behind his appearance there’s a coward. I just hope he can find happiness in his life as, in my opinion, being that miserable must be very mentally draining."

He added: "The love and respect I feel for Ipswich and its fans is something he will never feel. I could say lots of awful things about him but I don’t feel right speaking about him, I feel sorry for him. That’s why, whatever he says about me, I don’t take offence, even though he’s not telling the truth about me."

Getty

It has also been suggested that Counago felt the real reason why Keane did not like him was due to the Spaniard's strong relationship with the Ipswich fans.

In another interview with Ipswich’s TWTD fans’ website, Counago said: "I don’t know if it was because he didn’t want me to have that good relationship with the fans, because he said to me he never understood the relationship I had with the fans, why they sang my name, why they loved me.

"I think it annoyed him. It was a big surprise for me, how it looked like he was jealous of that. For me it was like ‘what’s going on here?’, someone like Roy Keane, one of the biggest names in Manchester United history, and now he is getting annoyed because the people like me. He was the kind of person who could have everything and was never going to be happy. They look so big and strong standing there but really they are weaker than anyone."