Roy Keane reveals Mick McCarthy showdown

Keane's first public meeting with the former Wolves boss since their infamous fall-out at the 2002 World Cup with Ireland came in November 2006.

He was Sunderland manager and they visited Wolves in a televised Championship game on a Friday night.

The match finished 1-1 but all the headlines centred on the handshake between the two before the game.

However, in his new autobiography 'The Second Half' Keane admits he lost the plot – not with McCarthy, but in the visitors' dressing room.

Keane, now assistant manager with Aston Villa and the Republic of Ireland, said: "That was another night I lost my rag. We were 1-0 down at half-time; we were shocking.

"I told Cookie (kit manager John Cooke) to get the tactics board out and I did a bit of a Bruce Lee on it. I think the players were distracted by the whole Keane-McCarthy stuff.

"And I have to ask myself the question, was I extra angry because I didn't want to lose to Mick McCarthy's team? I'd hope not. But we were on TV and we were ****.

"Poor Cookie had to spend ages looking for all the little players off the tactics board.

"We drew 1-1 but we were lucky. Our goalkeeper Darren Ward kept us in the game, and our goal, a shot by Stevie Elliott, was deflected."

Keane revealed that the handshake wasn't the first time the pair had met since their showdown in Saipan four years earlier.

To take the heat out of the situation, they had agreed to meet beforehand and, at that rendezvous, Keane apologised for his actions at the World Cup.

His sensational criticism of then Ireland boss McCarthy's preparations and facilities overshadowed their whole campaign and led to the former Manchester United midfielder being sent home in disgrace.

Keane wrote: "Mick McCarthy was managing Wolves and he rang me about a player; I think it was Neill Collins, who he wanted to take on loan.

"He rang me direct, straight through to my office. 'All right, Roy?' We chatted about the player, and about this and that. It wasn't an awkward conversation, and I was glad he'd rung me.

"It had crossed my mind that we'd be meeting during the course of the season. Our teams would be playing against each other, we were bound to meet.

"I think it was Mick who suggested we meet up for a chat; we both thought it was a good idea.

"We met at the Four Seasons Hotel, near Manchester Airport, and it was a bit like the meeting with Niall (Quinn), a nice anticlimax.

"I said I was sorry about what happened in Saipan. I'm not sure I had anything to apologise for. But you try to move on.

"But that was that. It was important, and I'm glad it happened. We were playing Wolves, away, in November, on a Friday night. The media were all over it, and the game was live on Sky.

"The build-up to the game was all 'Are they going to shake hands?' But we'd already met and we'd kept that to ourselves. So it was no big drama for us.

"We shook hands before the game, but it wasn't prearranged. It's standard practice. The only difference this time was that there were 50 cameramen around us."

Later that season, on April 7, came the return game with Wolves, which Sunderland won 2-1.

Keane admitted he was concerned his players were more concerned about Dwight Yorke's shiny Lamborghini than the opposition.

"Our next game was at home to Wolves. I thought, 'this will be a good test for us'," he recalled.

"Wolves were doing well too. Yorkie had just had his Lamborghini shipped over from Sydney and he brought it to the training ground. A white Lamborghini in Sunderland does stick out a little bit.

"I was looking out of my office window and Yorkie was pulling up outside, and all of the lads were looking at his wheels.

"It was perfect. They were focusing on Yorkie's Lamborghini, and the game against Wolves was the last thing on their minds.

"The next day we went out and beat them. We won, 2-1. Daryl Murphy scored for us – a rocket."

One player Wolves signed after promotion to the Premier League in 2009 was Greg Halford.

Keane signed him for Sunderland, from where Wolves got him, and the Irishman revealed he didn't take to him from the moment he met him.

He said: "We got Greg Halford from Reading. I shouldn't have signed him. He came into my office and I didn't like the way he sat down. He was crouched down, too laid-back.

"And he asked me a few questions. 'Who else are you buying?' I should have been asking him the questions.

"Six months earlier, he was at Colchester. He should have walked up to Sunderland. I should have sent him on his way. But we'd agreed the fee, and the wages.

"I was finding out slowly that certain players suit certain clubs and Greg Halford wasn't a Sunderland player.

"Sunderland people are hard-working, roll your sleeves up – and he wasn't that type of player. He was about dealing with the ball, coasting through the game, and just doing enough."