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15th January 2026
05:18pm GMT
Roy Keane has criticised Michael Carrick's decision to appoint Jonny Evans within his coaching staff at Old Trafford.
Keane appeared on the latest episode of the Overlap's Stick to Football podcast, where — alongside former teammate Gary Neville — the 54-year-old discussed the fallout at Old Trafford since Ruben Amorim's departure, leading up to the appointment of Carrick.
Carrick was announced as caretaker on Tuesday, at the end of rigorous recruitment process that saw him go up against former colleague, and once close teammate of Keane's, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
According to Sky Sports, Carrick won out over Ole due to his acceptance that he is unlikely to remain Man United manager beyond the end of his short-term six month contract.
Weighing in on discourse around the new Man United manager, Keane began by saying: "Isn’t it strange, the noises the last few weeks, people saying there needs to be a Man Utd connection? I’m not sure about all that stuff, I’m not sure it necessarily works!"
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Keane then went on to discuss the decision to include former Man United defender Jonny Evans within his coaching staff.
He said: "Jonny Evans leaves Man Utd four or five weeks ago, as a loans manager, and then Fletch gives him a job, strangely enough.
"He has 2 games, Fletch goes, and then Carrick gives him a job. Great, isn’t it?" said Keane, referencing Evans's role during Darren Fletcher's short spell in the manager's seat.
Keane added: "What has Jonny Evans done to be a first-team coach at Man Utd? He left his job as a loans manager a few weeks ago, and ironically he comes back working with the first team. That’s a big step isn’t it?"
Jonny Evans is yet to formally respond to Keane's comments.
As a player, Evans won more than 10 trophies for the Red Devils, playing over 200 matches across two spells.
Since retiring, Evans had a brief six-month stint as loans manager at Man United, where he helped prepare the club's youth talent for the first team.
Roy Keane has grabbed the attention of the sporting world this week, after he made an unexpected comment about new caretaker Man United manager Michael Carrick’s wife, Lisa Roughead.
Keane said: "His wife can always come in [if Carrick doesn't do well], cause she’s got a bit of a big mouth sometimes. She's probably doing the team talk."
The apparent reason behind Keane's surprise swipe at Lisa Roughead has since been revealed by The Manchester Evening News.
The MEN report that, back in 2014, after then Man United midfielder Michael Carrick had featured for the Red Devils in a disappointing loss to Olympiakos, he had been criticised by pundit Roy Keane.
After Carrick was recorded in a post match interview, Keane had said: "That interview was just like the performance, flat."
Keane's comments reportedly prompted Lisa to take to social media to say: "Roy Keane what a ****, says anything to get a reaction. That's all done."
She later deleted the tweet, and returned to the platform to say: "Deleted my tweet... Emotions got the better of me."
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