FA charges Keane over comments in book

Roy Keane was yesterday charged by the Football Association with two counts of bringing the game into disrepute, although it is likely that, if found guilty, any ban would prove purely theoretical.

Both charges relate to claims made in Keane's autobiography that he deliberately targeted Alf Inge Haaland during the Manchester derby in April last year. The Manchester City midfielder had angered Keane when playing for Leeds by accusing the Manchester United captain of feigning injury as he writhed in agony on the pitch at Elland Road after tearing his cruciate ligaments in September 1997.

Keane has 14 days to give the FA his interpretation of the words: "I'd waited long enough. The ball was there (I think). Take that you **** and don't ever stand over me again sneering about fake injuries." Keane will request a personal hearing and has said he is "not bothered" by any disrepute charges stirred up by a book which will earn him a minimum of £1m.

Because Keane will spend the next six to eight weeks recovering from a hip operation he underwent on Tuesday, any suspension would not be served. The three-match ban triggered by his red card for elbowing Jason McAteer at Sunderland on Saturday has also been swallowed up in his recuperation.

In interviews given to support the book at the weekend, Keane appeared to soften his line saying he had "never deliberately set out to injure any player", although later in the same interview he claimed Haaland had received "his just reward". Keane's ghost, the Irish author and former Millwall footballer, Eamon Dunphy, is likely to claim that he exaggerated the player's comments for literary effect.

Keane, however, also faces the possibility of civil action for loss of earnings by Haaland, who has barely played for Manchester City since being carried off at Old Trafford. But the Norwegian undermined his case in old comments on his own website which suggested Keane's tackle was not primarily responsible for his lay-off. The Northern Ireland club, Linfield, have threatened action over an accusation that their supporters were "bigoted". Only individuals, rather than clubs, can sue for libel, this is likely to be the least of Keane's worries.