Roy Keane’s £800 Wager with Sunderland Players

Roy Keane has opened up on his well-documented reign as Sunderland manager and that a bet with his players once saw him win £800 but joked that it could have also lost him the dressing room.

After retiring in 2006, following a glittering playing career where he enjoyed spells with Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Celtic, Keane would go into coaching and would almost immediately be appointed as Sunderland manager. 

The 52-year-old would win the Championship with the Black Cats in 2007 and see them finish 15th in the Premier League table the following season before walking away from the job after falling out with the club’s majority shareholder Ellis Short. 

During a special episode of the Stick to Football Podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Roy Keane was asked by Gary Neville to confirm whether several rumours about his playing career were true or false.  

One question revolved around an alleged bet he had with his Sunderland team that saw him claim he’d give each player £1,000 if they were able to beat him in goal from long-range during training. 

‘After Craig Gordon had a poor performance [at Sunderland], Roy lined up eight to nine players to try and beat him from 25-30 yards out,’ Neville stated during the podcast. 

‘If they scored, he’d give them £1,000, if they missed, they’d give him £100. 

The ex-Man United defender finished by saying: ‘He made £800 from the session.’ 

In response, Keane sensationally confirmed the rumour was true and that he had made the wager with his players while they were on a pre-season training camp in the Algarve, in Portugal.

‘I made £800-£900, but I probably lost the dressing room!’ The former Man United captain revealed. 

‘We were at pre-season, playing down at the Algarve somewhere, and Craig’s in goal – there was a free-kick, about 40 yards out – and he gets beaten. He had a wall out – I said, “Why are you having a wall for? He’s miles away!” 

‘I’m trying to have a bit of banter, a bit of fun – it’s pre-season – I said, “I’ll go in goal tomorrow lads, if any of you want to take a free-kick against me, go 20 yards out, I’m going to have no wall”, and I said, “If any of you score, I’ll give you £1,000”. A few missed and gave me £100.’

But Keane admitted that after making the wager he feared he could have been nearly £9,000 out of pocket. He added that his goalkeepers at the time, including Gordon, may have thought that he was disrespecting them by making the challenge to his team. 

‘So, the next day, it was a warm day, I said, “Lads, if any of you want to try it” – I’m thinking one or two might try it. But wight or nine started walking down, so I get into goal and I had no wall, 20 yards out, so I’m thinking I could be £9,000 down here. 

The ex-midfielder said he had challenged his players to see who could beat him in goal from 20 yards out. If they scored, he said he’d give them £1,000 each

Keane stepped in goal in place of goalkeeper Craig Gordon (pictured) and let his team take shots at him

The ex-Sunderland boss said he was left wondering whether he would lose £9,000 from the wager

‘You’re thinking one or two will definitely score if they hit the target, and hit it properly, I won’t be able to get near it. I remember the two or three goalkeepers that were together – obviously Craig – they thought I was disrespecting them. It was more the goalkeepers that were annoyed, the players that came thought this is a great laugh, “we could be getting £1,000 each tonight”. 

‘No one scored – I made some decent saves. Well, it was £1,000 for each shot! You can bet your life I was diving around like Peter Shilton! Strangely enough, they were very slow in paying me. This is where I kind of backfired a little bit.

‘The next day we had another friendly, I was thinking ‘no one’s paid me yet’. It was half-time, the game was 0-0 – [the way] I was hoping it was going, so I’m having a go at the players, I went ‘Listen lads, you need to do better – and I better get my f*****g money tonight! 

‘You got to pay me that money tonight, I’m telling you’. Eight or nine lads came up to me after the game, I went ‘It’s about time!’

Keane also cleared up a rumour that he was once barred from Larry Lloyd’s pub while he was at Nottingham Forest. 

‘The amount of stories that people said about me getting barred from pubs and bars in Manchester and Nottingham is absolute rubbish,’ Keane said. 

‘I got thrown through a bar window at Nottingham! I was in a wine bar, and I just came to United, and I remember I went back to Forest to check on my house. The reserves were playing, but I had a sneaky night out, and I used to go drink when I was a Forest player. 

‘I used to drink the wine from the bottle, I wouldn’t have the glass – it was cheap wine – like £6. I was with a few lads and a few words were said, and this guy threw me out the window. 

He later added that he had come away from the wager having claimed £800 from his players

‘I went through the window and a door, I landed out in the street, it was like the Wild West! I was on the floor, but I still had the bottle of wine in my hand! Not that pub [Larry Lloyd’s] – this was a different bar.’

It seems Keane, prior to his footballing career, could have also pursued a career in boxing and went undefeated in all of his fights. 

‘I have pictures at home, just me with my gloves on. I would have been 10/11, just a young kid,’ he said when asked whether he won all his fights as an amateur. 

‘My brother boxed a lot longer – my younger brother had over 50 amateur fights. I had four fights, I enjoyed it – I loved the training. The kind of training you have to do, the running and the sparring. I did like a bit of boxing. 

‘I was playing soccer and hurling, and I had to start dropping one or two sports at that age. I might have dropped it when I was 13 or 14, maybe I was a bit older, but I used to love the boxing.’

Roy Keane was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast brought to you by Sky Bet.