Boss Roy Keane says the press reaction to him keeping the squad behind in the dressing room after the Watford game was over the top. Keane was less than impressed with the display at Vicarage Road last Tuesday and shut his players in the dressing room for 90 minutes after the match.
Keane said: "I think there’s been a reaction over the last few days - as there always is regarding myself - really over the top stuff about me locking players in dressing rooms, as if other players haven’t done it.
"Me pressing panic buttons, a load of nonsense, certain players will never play for the club again, really negative stuff the last few days which has really disappointed me from certain parts of the media, but then again that shouldn’t surprise me.”
The Blues boss says that while he was tough on his team at Watford, that isn’t always his approach to man-management: "We have put our arms around a lot of the players, particularly at the start of the season, but the other night needed something a bit different.
"I’ve been a player myself, sometimes I needed an arm put around me, I very rarely got it, and other times I was given what I deserved and I took it on board.
"When I was a young player I made a mistake at Crystal Palace and Brian Clough smacked me in the mouth and he was dead right. It was the best thing he ever did to me.
"People think I’m always over the top with my players. I don’t think I am. I think I’ve always been very, very fair with them.”
Keane says that last Thursday’s aside about punching his players was taken out of context by some sections of the media: "Last week I said that about me throwing punches tongue in cheek, and all of a sudden I want to be punching my players. It’s crazy, obviously you can’t be doing that.”
The former Forest midfielder revealed more about the incident with Clough: "He did it because he felt I shouldn’t have backpassed it to the goalkeeper and he was probably right.
"It was a replay in the FA Cup, John Salako scored with the last kick of the game. It was the goal which made John Salako when he scored from 45 yards out.
"I still haven’t forgiven Mark Crossley because he took about 40 seconds to run back about 20 yards, but ‘Norm’ was quite a big lad.
"[With Brian Clough] that was a situation that happened and I think it was right, but obviously you can’t be doing that.
"Brian Clough went on the pitch against QPR and smacked a few fans! That was Brian Clough's way, he was a genius and he was able to get away with it, but obviously you can’t be doing that, I know that!”
Keane says players don't all react the same way to various styles of managment: "You have to treat every player differently. Some players will respond to it depending on their personality, but I still think the good players and the good characters will react in a positive way no matter which way you have a go at them.
"A good character will just stick his chest out and say ‘I can take that no problem, I’ll show you in the next game’, and that’s what the players did on Saturday.
"But that’s history. We won a game of football [on Saturday], we’ve not won enough of them this season and it’s about winning football matches, particularly the close matches. We’ve come up short in a lot of the close games. We’re nearly a good team, so we’ve got a bit to go as yet.”
The Blues boss says that it’s not just the games on which his players are judged: "The media and fans will focus on what goes on on match day, but we train most days of the week as well and it’s about their attitude and mentality in training, attitude to the staff, attitude to wanting to improve as a player. You generally get the rewards on a match day.
"We’re always looking at the overall package, particularly with the players who have been left out of the team. I know they’re disappointed, but you still have to come in, you’re a professional, you get well paid and you have to have that hunger to want to do well. That’s the key area, I need to work with hungry players.”