Man Utd legend reveals error of 'disrespectful' bet involving Hearts hero

Sunderland signed Craig Gordon from Hearts for a then record fee of £9 million (Pic: Getty) | Getty Images

Roy Keane has opened up on a bet he made during his time as Sunderland manager, involving Hearts hero Craig Gordon, that he feels cost him the dressing room at the Stadium of Light.

The Manchester United legend was manager of the Black Cats between 2006 and 2008 and signed Gordon from Tynecastle for £9 million, the highest a British club had ever paid for a goalkeeper at the time. However, the Irishman has revealed a wager he made with his players which was intended as ‘banter’ may have been seen as disrespectful by the Scotland international and his fellow keepers.

Keane was speaking to fellow Old Trafford icons Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney as well as Arsenal great Ian Wright on The Overlap’s YouTube channel where he discussed what happened on a pre-season training trip in Portugal. The bet involved a free kick challenge from which the gaffer pocketed around £800.

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He said: “I made £800 or £900 but I probably lost the dressing room. We were playing a pre-season friendly somewhere down in the Algarve and Craig's the goalie. There's a free-kick and he gets beaten from 40 yards. He had a wall and after the game I'm like 'what are you having a wall for? It's f****** miles out.

“You're trying to have a bit of banter, a bit of fun. I said: 'I tell you what, I'll go in goal tomorrow, you take take free-kicks about 25 yards out with no wall and if any of you score I'll give you £1000 but if you miss you give me £100.

“I'm thinking one or two might try it. Eight or nine start walking down. So I get in goal and some of the lads could strike the ball. I've no wall and they're just in the middle of the goal, about 20 yards out. I'm thinking... ‘I could be £9,000 down here.' You're thinking one or two will definitely score. If they hit the target and hit it properly, I wouldn't be able to get near it.

“I remember two or three of the goalkeepers were together and one of them was Craig. I think they thought I was disrespecting them. My point was that it was much harder without a wall. It was more the goalkeepers that were annoyed - the players that came down thought it was a great laugh.”