The Manchester United star had all but carried his country through a unforgiving qualifying - chaperoning the Republic of Ireland through a group consisting of Holland and Portugal, to make it to the 2002 World Cup. What happened next isn’t 100% clear, although being clarified from various perspectives, all that matters though is not long after the team arrived in Saipan, the national Captain was on his way home.

A perfect storm of Keane’s very high standards not being met, a rock hard training ground, a personality clash with the manager, and an Oscar nominated performance by Will Smith (Ali - which Keane allegedly watched on the flight to Korea) set the wheels in motion. Then after what Keane perceived as a betrayal by other senior members of the team, the situation became untenable and he arranged his own flights (with the help of Manchester United) back to the UK.

The Republic of Ireland remarkably regrouped to advance to the second phase of the tournament, while Keane and his Labrador Triggs would spend the tournament walking around Cheshire.