Man Utd: Roy Keane row explodes as Rio Ferdinand calls pundit out | Football | Sport

Rio Ferdinand has leapt to the defence of Jonny Evans after Roy Keane launched a scathing attack on Manchester United for bringing the former defender onto Michael Carrick’s coaching team. Earlier this week, Keane took aim at Evans’ appointment, arguing he lacks the necessary credentials in a withering assessment.

“Fletch goes and Carrick gives him the job. Great, isn’t it?” Keane said on the Stick to Football podcast. “We should all go to Barbados for a week… If you’re on about getting coaching staff in, we’re praising one of them and we just let the other two go – Jonathan Woodgate and Jonny Evans. What has Jonny Evans done to be a coach at Man Utd‘s first team? He left a job four weeks ago as a loans manager and ironically comes back working with the first team. That’s a big step up, isn’t it?”

Keane unleashed his tirade following Gary Neville’s positive reaction to Steve Holland’s appointment as Carrick’s number two. “I wish we were sitting here and you said he brought three staff in and you reeled them off and said they’re all brilliant,” Keane continued.

“You said you don’t know anything about Jonny Evans coaching because he’s never coached! That’s my point! But he’s gone into Man Utd and you’re going, ‘oh that’s okay because we’ve got Stevie Holland,’ A new guru!”

Keane reiterated his doubts about Carrick and his new coaching team ahead of the Manchester City derby in a fiery tirade on Sky Sports.

He singled out Evans once more, stating: “My issue with Jonny, he’s got no coaching, it’s not as if he’s worked in the academy for a few years.”

In response to Keane’s remarks, Ferdinand has defended Evans, claiming that the former defender deserves his chance, given his familiarity with the squad from playing alongside nearly all its members – a factor that could aid Carrick in maximising the potential of players like Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo.

“The stuff with the coaches and stuff like that, and calling out the coaches, like, Jonny Evans is a young coach. Why shouldn’t he get a chance?” Ferdinand questioned on BBC 5 Live.

“Why shouldn’t he get a chance to come into the club? He knows every single player in that club better than any coach on the planet right now, other than the ones that have been there recently, because he’s played there. He knows them all. Why wouldn’t you bring him on your staff? I don’t understand.

“If you want to get to know what Kobbie Mainoo is like, because you want to reboot him and put him in a team, I wouldn’t mind having somebody that knows him, who’s been in the changing room, who knows how he works, closer to me.

“How do we get a bit more out of Bruno? Because you know him. That’s the kind of conversation I’m sure that Michael Carrick’s gonna want to be having.

“Sit down and tell me about every single one of these players, because you, Jonny, have lived with them and breathed with them for a couple of years now. I actually understand why someone like Steve Holland’s there.

“He’s experienced. Michael Carrick wants an experienced coach alongside him. He’s gone for someone like him. Like, what, should he have gone for what? Who else has got experience that he should have gone for?

“I just, I don’t know. It was a… I didn’t agree with it, with that, and that’s where it starts, and that’s fine. You can have that conversation and have that opinion, but I don’t know, I just thought it was probably a bit… The gun was pointing at the wrong people.”