Matt Holland has given his account of Roy Keane's berating of Mick McCarthy. The Town skipper also says that there is "sense of relief" in the squad now the Manchester United player has left.

Holland says in his Independent column: "I sat there much like the rest, feeling as if the whole thing had been a dream, a surreal dream maybe but a dream nonetheless.

"The manager and captain had been verbally slugging it out, toe to toe, with most of the invective and appalling language coming from the player."

The Blues' skipper says that looking back Keane really wanted to return from the moment they arrived: "From the very start he moaned about, well, everything really and I feel, with the benefit of hindsight admittedly, that he wanted to go home all the time.

"He certainly tried on Tuesday when he walked out and it took plenty of diplomacy by the Football Association of Ireland and a series of phone calls home and to Sir Alex Ferguson to persuade him to stay."

According to Holland the squad is happier since Keane left: "Now the saga's over there is a definite sense of relief at Keane's departure. He had been his usual brooding self since our arrival in Saipan."

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls