Keane savages Fernandes and Maguire over podcast culture as United crisis deepens

Roy Keane has delivered another withering verdict on Manchester United’s leadership group, singling out captain Bruno Fernandes and former skipper Harry Maguire for what he described as a damaging obsession with media appearances at a time when the club has won just two of nine games under permanent manager Michael Carrick.

Speaking on The Overlap in the wake of United’s latest Champions League defeat, Keane questioned the mentality of both players, arguing that their willingness to air grievances and promote themselves publicly was symptomatic of a dressing room without accountability. “Bruno’s body language, he doesn’t seem a happy lad at the moment,” Keane said. “They’re pulling nobody. This reflects where Manchester United are and where this dressing room is.”

Keane took particular aim at Maguire, who was left out of the England squad and, in Keane’s telling, responded by heading to New York for a podcast rather than working to force his way back into contention. “Instead of rolling his sleeves up during the summer, ‘I’m going to go to New York and do a podcast for a few weeks,’” Keane said. “That’s his mindset.”

The Irishman also addressed a previous on-air criticism of Fernandes that the United captain subsequently responded to in an appearance on Steven Bartlett’s podcast. Rather than backing down, Keane used the episode to reinforce his point. “That’s the mindset of a Man United player — I’m going to start doing these little gigs instead of getting Man United competing at the very top,” he said.

Keane acknowledged that media commitments existed in his own playing era — referencing magazine covers rather than podcasts — but insisted the crucial difference was internal accountability. “If a player went off and said something, even silly, he’d come in the dressing room, and lads would say: ‘What are you talking about?’ You’d put him in his place in that sense, not a big bust-up.”

The comments come after Lisandro Martinez added to the sense of unrest at Old Trafford with a pointed post-match interview criticising the club’s hierarchy, a moment Keane suggested underlined just how far standards have slipped. “Man United is a circus,” he said. “If you have to let off a bit of steam, ok, but try and do it on the back of some victories, or when you’ve won a league title or something like that. These players have done nothing.”

Carrick’s position at the club has come under increasing scrutiny following the run of poor results, with United’s season threatening to unravel before it has properly begun.