Ahead of the campaign for Euro 2004, McCarthy was being asked by some Irish media people not just about his Ireland side qualifying, but being potential winners of the tournament.
Two games and two defeats (Russia away, Switzerland home) into the Euro 2004 campaign and McCarthy was gone, resigning in November 2002. He bounced back quickly and was rarely out of work, won promotion to the Premier League in spells with Sunderland (2003-2006) and Wolves (2006-2012). But his time at Ipswich Town (2012-2018) ended on an unhappy note.
The Indo Daily: Shadows of Saipan - 20 years on - How Keane v McCarthy divided the nation (part 1)
The Indo Daily: Shadows of Saipan - 20 Years on - How Keane v McCarthy divided the nation (part 2)
His second spell as Ireland manager (2018-2020) was testing, a home win over Georgia the highlight of a dull campaign. McCarthy was manager as crisis gripped the post-Delaney FAI, and the arrival of Covid-19 hastened his exit and the early coronation of Stephen Kenny in the FAI’s succession plan, denying McCarthy the chance to take the side into the Euro 2020 playoffs. A stint in Cyprus with APOEL (three months between 2020-’21) was unhappy as was, ultimately, his time at Cardiff City (2021). Now 63, McCarthy is a regular on TV but has not given up hopes of managing again.
Saipan parting shot: “Normally someone does mention it [Saipan] on a daily basis. We have a bit of a competition in our house that anybody who mentions Saipan or the other fella [Keane] any day wins the ‘D*** of the Day Award.”
Roy Keane
Debate will always rage over whether Keane was a winner or loser in Saipan but despite that pressure and a worldwide gaze on him, his career remained on track: post-Saipan he won a Premier League and FA Cup with Manchester United while Brian Kerr coaxed Keane back to the Irish fold, Keane winning his 67th and final cap in a loss to France in 2005. In a turn of events which seemed impossible in Saipan, Keane would re-engage with Niall Quinn (whom he’d called a “coward... muppet... hung me out to dry”) at Sunderland.
Keane was an instant and dramatic success as manager with Sunderland, taking a point-less, relegation-threatened side to the Premier League. A falling-out with new owner Ellis Short hastened Keane’s exit from Sunderland, but his second spell as boss, with Ipswich Town (2009-2011) was not as successful and remains his last outright managerial role. He worked as assistant under Martin O’Neill with Ireland (2013-2018) and Nottingham Forest (2019) and also assisted at Aston Villa, but despite recent links with Sunderland and Hibernian, he remains available for work. Still only 50 but is box-office gold for TV companies.
Saipan parting shot: “No regrets. I still think people miss the point of what was going on over there, believe it or not. I still think we went with the wrong attitude, I think things were badly organised, and there were accusations against me. Again people still miss that point and get sidetracked by other stuff going on.”
John Delaney
John Delaney was known to only a handful on the Irish soccer circuit when the FAI party flew out to Asia (without him) in May 2002, though the white suit he wore en route to Korea, the Saipan crisis already blowing in the FAI’s faces, was not an attempt to blend into the background by a clearly ambitious man (Delaney was 34 at the time).
By the end of the tournament, he had gone from an obscure Waterford United FC delegate to a major player in FAI politics and Saipan was his stage in a power grab, Delaney central to talks about healing the rift between Keane and McCarthy. Brendan Menton, FAI chief at the time, noted that when he briefed four fellow FAI officers on attempts to keep Keane on board, “they were all shocked by the news and supportive of all approaches to reverse Keane’s withdrawal, Delaney was the only one who became actively involved.”
Building on his public image in the wake of Saipan and also gathering support on chicken-and-chips circuit at FAI level, by March 2005 Delaney was full-time CEO of the FAI, on a salary which would top €490,000, with a parallel rise in the corridors of power, not to mention frequent appearances on TV and radio chat shows, his love life played out in the gossip columns.
Revelations in March 2019 led to his (eventual) exit from his FAI role and also his prestigious UEFA post, FAI debts of €62m would emerge and he remains the subject of proceedings by the ODCE. Delaney has not spoken in public since an ill-fated appearance before an Oireachtas committee in April 2019. He is reportedly based in London working on a number of business projects.
Saipan parting shot: “I set out when we qualified [For Euro 2012] with my professional team to ensure that there was not going to be a repeat of Saipan, that the shadow of Saipan would leave the association and that’s been achieved.”
Niall Quinn
A team-mate of Keane with Ireland for 11 years by then, they had on-field rows in Manchester derbies, but early tensions had emerged with commentary over Keane’s non-appearance at Quinn’s testimonial. Keane claimed that he’d told Quinn he would not be fit to take part and that Quinn fully understood, but the row was brewing.
Quinn, along with Steve Staunton and Alan Kelly, emerged as the troika who spoke for the players and backed McCarthy, while behind the scenes, Quinn is a key figure in talks. Quinn’s backing for McCarthy was seen as a knife in the back by Keane, but amazingly, within four years they’d made up when Quinn arranged for Keane to come to Sunderland as manager. (Keane actually succeeded Quinn as manager, Quinn with a tough spell as caretaker manager at the start of that 2006/07 season).
Quinn (55) was back on the Irish stage in recent years with a role as deputy interim CEO in the post-Delaney crisis, and was a regular TV pundit but is currently on a break from the game, though he broke his hiatus from TV work to appear on last week’s Late Late Show special on the FAI.
Saipan parting shot: “We made a million mistakes in the way we handled things”.
Steve Staunton
The most senior player available to McCarthy at the finals, Staunton was close to Keane in their time as Ireland team-mates (Keane recalls a drinking session with Staunton on a USA tour with Ireland in 1992) and called Staunton a “good pro” in his autobiography. But Keane resented the lack of support from Staunton and Quinn for his stance in Saipan. “There’s a knock on the door. Stan and Quinny. What the f*** do these muppets want?” Keane wrote. “Cowards, they’d said f*** all when they’d had their chance,” he recalled.
Staunton’s international career ended in 2002, he retired from playing in 2004, after a spell coaching at Walsall he got the Ireland job in 2006 but his plans crumbled on the back of dismal form and Staunton was gone before the end of that first campaign. A stint in charge of Darlington (2009-10) ended with the sack. He has not managed since then, though he has worked in scouting roles for a number of clubs.
Saipan parting shot: “What Roy did was unacceptable. I’ve never witnessed anything like it before in my life. I’ve known Roy for a long time and this was totally out of character for him, but what’s happened cannot be changed.”
Brendan Menton
Brendan Menton was the most high-ranking non-playing FAI figure in 2002 but, crucially, he was not in Saipan for the row, fighting that fire from his office in Dublin before a trip to Japan to meet the squad. Within months, Menton and McCarthy were both were gone from their roles. Menton, FAI General Secretary from 2001-’03, did not leave just because of Saipan but the toxic remains of what happened contributed to him leaving for a post with the Asian Football Federation. “In the months after the World Cup I began to hate the job,” he wrote in his memoir.
Returning to Ireland in recent years after his stint in Malaysia, he was very vocal on the state of affairs in the FAI after the exit of his one-time colleague but then nemesis, John Delaney.
Saipan parting shot: “If I had gone to Saipan, would I have made any difference? Not to Roy Keane going home. The story was bigger than the FAI’s capacity to handle it, no matter how many people and how much expertise we had there.”
Tommie Gorman
The RTÉ correspondent seemed like the unlikely recipient of Roy Keane’s decision to grant an interview to that station upon his arrival back in England, but Gorman had a close link with the game through his connection with Sligo Rovers. His pleading style in his interview with Keane – “what about the children, who love you” – was fodder for the comical wits like Apres Match and Gift Grub but it his manner was effective. The 30-minute interview is still widely watched on YouTube. Now 65, he retired from RTÉ in 2021.
Saipan parting shot: “Do I think part of Keane wanted to go back? Yes. Was there an opportunity for him to go back? I think there probably was. And I think when you look at what has happened to the FAI subsequently, I think some of the seeds of the destruction were evident from that time.”
Michael Kennedy
The English-born solicitor with strong Irish links was rarely photographed, only clients or journalists who had his phone number knew what his voice sounded like but he was central to all that happened in Saipan and afterwards. Someone in whom Keane had complete trust, their relationship began early in Keane’s career when he asked David O’Leary for advice on contracts, O’Leary recommended his own solicitor, Kennedy, and Kennedy was instantly in Keane’s inner circle.
“With Michael I was totally secure,” Keane recalled. Crucially (at the time), Keane had decided to come home from Saipan, Kennedy “reminded me of the consequences of leaving”, told him to speak to Alex Ferguson, and Ferguson convinced Keane to stay on, only for the flare-up over Keane’s interview to shatter the peace. Keane’s version is that Kennedy called him to say he had been “kicked out of the squad”. As Keane packed his bags, he phoned – in this order: his wife, Kennedy and then Ferguson.
Later on, Kennedy was key to Keane’s return to the Ireland side under Brian Kerr (“the suggestion for the meeting with Brian came from Michael,” Keane said) and Keane’s move to Sunderland in 2006 would not have happened without Kennedy.
Kennedy died in 2020, aged 76.
Alex Ferguson
Their own rift would emerge in 2005 but in 2002 Ferguson was behind Keane. Ferguson was on a week-long holiday to mark his 60th birthday and had left his mobile at home, on the night that Keane tried to reach him from Saipan, and with missed calls and wrong numbers it took time to make contact.
“I told Roy to get back in there with McCarthy, just the two of them and tell the manager he would be playing. Roy agreed. But by the time he went back, Mick had already given a press conference, there was no way back for Roy,” Ferguson said. “I defended Roy to the hilt because he had come from Manchester United with the high standards we had, but how far do you take a grievance.”
Ferguson had his own taste of Saipan with the clash over Keane’s infamous MUTV interview and soon he was gone. “That day in my office when we clashed, I saw the anger in him, his eyes blackened,” Ferguson recalled later. Now 80, Ferguson left United in 2013.
Saipan parting shot: “As bad as the conditions were in Saipan, Roy shouldn’t have pushed his anger to such levels. but that was Roy, He was a man of extremes.”
Mick Byrne
A long-time physio on the Ireland staff, under McCarthy’s predecessors Eoin Hand and Jack Charlton, Byrne was a strong presence in Keane’s career with Ireland.
As Keane tells it, Byrne’s conversation with Keane, when the captain had threatened to leave the squad in Saipan after the training ground row with the goalkeepers, delayed his exit, Byrne telling Keane to “wait until after the tournament, let me fix it”.
Byrne was then in Keane’s hotel room for the tense conversation when Keane said he was staying; the captain and manager clashed, after which Keane went to Byrne’s room and told the physio to tell McCarthy “I’m going”. By the time of Keane’s departure, he now saw his one-time confidant Byrne in the “other” camp. “Mick knocked to say goodbye, he was usually one for hugging but I didn’t want to hug him now, we shook hands,” Keane said.
McCarthy’s successor Kerr axed Byrne from his staff when he took over from McCarthy in 2003 but Kerr’s successor, Staunton, brought Byrne back into the Irish fold. Byrne was not retained when Giovanni Trapattoni then got the job.
Milo Corcoran
Elected as FAI president in time for the World Cup, Corcoran was the most senior FAI official in Saipan, even writing a column for his local newspaper in Waterford on the serenity of the place, before the Keane/McCarthy war began, though he was sidelined as the crisis developed when figures like Menton and Delaney became involved. FAI president until 2005, he died, aged 65, after an illness in 2016.
Ray Treacy
Former Ireland international was a familiar face on the scene in his role as travel agent with the FAI. Treacy was unwillingly thrown into the spotlight in Saipan. He had the added pressure of working with Manchester United to arrange passage home for Keane as well as the stress of getting the team on to Japan and Korea. Treacy closed down his company in 2009. He died in his native Dublin in 2015, aged 68.
Colin Healy
Colin Healy was just 21 and had only three caps on his CV when he was unwittingly a character in the saga. Initially called up to replace Keane after he’d decided to leave the Irish camp, only for Keane to change his mind and stay, and then leave. Healy was back home in Cork waiting for updates before it was official that the FAI had missed the deadline to register the final squad with FIFA so Healy missed out.
Now 42, Healy would play on with clubs in England, Scotland and Ireland, played under Keane at Ipswich, and after a spell as academy coach there he became Cork City manager in time for the 2021 season.
