Keane receives five-match ban and record fine

Manchester United captain to consider appeal over suspension and £150,000 fine after FA finds him guilty of disrepute charges

Roy Keane was last night handed a five-match ban and a record £150,000 fine by the Football Association after being found guilty of two charges of bringing the game into disrepute. Both arose from a claim in his recently published autobiography that he deliberately set out to hurt Manchester City's Alf Inge Haaland in a game in April 2001.

After a day-long hearing at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, the Manchester United captain was told that his ban ­ which, like his fine, is subject to appeal ­ will start on 4 November. That is approximately the same date that the Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, had hoped the midfielder would return to action following surgery for a hip problem.

The ban will cover domestic matches only. The first game Keane will miss will be the home match against Leicester City in the third round of the Worthington Cup, in which he is unlikely to have played anyway. Keane's most likely date for a return will be the Premiership match against Arsenal on 7 December, although he will be free to return in the Worthington Cup on 3 December if United are still involved.

Yesterday's fine ­ if it stands ­ will equate to around two weeks' wages for Keane but will easily beat the previous FA record of £45,000, meted out to Arsenal's Patrick Vieira in 1999 after incidents that occurred during a game with West Ham.

In a bizarre "press conference" shortly after the FA announced last night's verdicts, the Manchester United director and solicitor Maurice Watkins said that the club had not yet decided whether to appeal. Watkins had arrived in a designated conference room to make his announcement and sat down flanked by Keane and Ferguson. "Clearly after the arguments that have been put forward in Roy's defence we are disappointed with the verdict," he said. "After such a long day, now is not the time to make quick decisions so we will be reviewing the question of appeal over the next few days."

Neither Keane nor Ferguson said a word and the three then rose and left the room. The entire "conference" lasted about 30 seconds and was presumably intended to be a sign of solidarity ­ between player, manager and club ­ as much as anything.

Keane arrived at the hearing with Watkins and his own solicitor Michael Kennedy shortly after 11am. Ferguson, who flew in from South Africa early yesterday morning, arrived shortly after noon to act as a character witness.

The FA was represented by the barrister Jim Sturman as it put its case to the three-man committee who made the judgement. The case was heard by the FA's three most experienced members of its disciplinary panel, consisting of chairman Barry Bright, vice-chairman Colin Taylor and Maurice Armstrong.

Although the fine is the largest ever handed out by the FA, the ban is by no means unparalleled. Keane's former team-mate, Eric Cantona, was given an eight-month ban for attacking a spectator in 1995. Arsenal's Paul Davis was handed a nine-match ban for punching an opponent in 1988; Chelsea's Frank Sinclair, when on loan at West Bromwich Albion, was also banned for nine matches for assaulting a referee and Paolo Di Canio was given a 12-match ban for pushing a referee to the ground after being sent off in a match in 1998.

The FA did not provide any immediate breakdown last night of how the punishment was divided across the two charges. The first charge related to the tackle itself, which earned Keane a red card and a three-match ban at the time. In his book, Keane indicated the tackle was an act of revenge for Haaland accusing him of feigning injury three years earlier when he had actually ruptured his cruciate knee ligament.

"I'd waited almost 180 minutes for Alfie, three years if you looked at it another way," he wrote. "I'd waited long enough. I hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that." The FA brought its charge because it claimed the book gave new evidence that the tackle was "improperly motivated".

The second charge was that Keane had made money through the tackle by writing about it in his book. Keane is estimated to have made around £2m from the book. Keane's lawyers are understood to have claimed that the comments in the player's book were paraphrased by his ghost writer Eamon Dunphy, who also appeared as a witness for Keane. Keane had also sent a series of audio tapes to the FA in advance to try to prove the issue was embellished by Dunphy's "artistic licence".

The 31-year-old Irishman's brutal description of his row with his international coach Mick McCarthy, which eventually saw him walk out of the World Cup, his withering condemnation of Jack Charlton's managerial approach, the sectarian accusations levelled at the Northern Irish outfit Linfield which brought the threat of legal action and the claim that his own team-mates had become too fond of their Rolex watches and mansions to care about winning trophies had already made the book front and back-page news. But the claims about Haaland were the most explosive.

Keane must now decide how to react now the FA has thrown the book ­ his own book, which he has now effectively argued he did not write, let alone read ­ at him.

KEANE'S PUNISHMENT

THE FINE

£150,000 amounts to two weeks' wages, but is a record fine imposed by the Football Association.

THE BAN

The five-match suspension will start three weeks from now, which is effectively the date Manchester United said Keane would return from his hip operation.

The games Keane will miss are: 5 Nov: Leicester, Worthington Cup (h); 9 Nov: Manchester City, Premiership (a); 17 Nov: West Ham, Premiership (a); 23 Nov: Newcastle, Premiership (h); 1 Dec: Liverpool, Premiership (a).

KEANE'S YEAR

2 March: Keane agrees a new four-year deal to stay at Old Trafford until June 2006.

2 April: With Manchester United leading 2-0 in the Champions' League quarter-final, first leg against the Spanish side Deportivo La Coruña, Keane suffers a hamstring injury in a 50-50 challenge with midfielder Sergio.

23 May: Keane is sent home from the World Cup in the Far East after a much-publicised row with the Republic of Ireland manager, Mick McCarthy. Keane criticises McCarthy's credentials and the facilities arranged by the Football Association of Ireland. His team-mates are critical of his attitude and his approach to the tournament. The saga runs on with Keane encouraged to apologise publicly, something he refuses to do.

August: Keane's autobiography is serialised in The Times and the News of the World in which he reveals details of his red-card tackle on Alf Inge Haaland, suggesting it was premeditated revenge. Keane claims he would have played in the World Cup had McCarthy not accused him of feigning injury.

16 August: Manchester City and Haaland announce they will jointly sue Keane over the tackle.

1 September: Keane sent off for elbowing Jason McAteer during Manchester United's 1-1 draw at Sunderland.

2 September: Linfield FC claim they are considering whether to sue Keane over allegations in his book.

3 September: The Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, announces Keane will be out for three months after undergoing a hip operation.

4 September: Keane charged by the Football Association with two counts of bringing the game into disrepute – both relating to the Haaland incident. Keane given 14 days to respond.

17 September: Keane given 48-hour extension to the deadline to respond to FA charges.

20 September: Keane confirms he is to contest both charges.

15 October: FA committee finds him guilty of both charges.