When Fergie foreshadowed Roy Keane’s stunning exit

Keane was Sir Alex Ferguson’s captain, and his on-pitch lieutenant; rarely as a player resembled his manager’s character so perfectly. But after a pre-season fallout with assistant manager Carlos Queiroz, Keane began to suspect his time at the club was due to come to an end, and didn’t expect his contract to be renewed the following summer. What he certainly didn’t expect was to be released by the club before Christmas.  

This exclusive extract from the new book Fergie: The Lost Tapes looks at the events building up to that day, with a classic piece of foreshadowing by the manager that was overlooked at the time, but in hindsight, more or less laid out what was about to happen.