Roy Keane sheds new light on when Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a boot at David Beckham's head... as he jokes the legendary Man United manager 'struck it well'

Roy Keane has shed light on Beckham's infamous run-in with Sir Alex FergusonThe former midfielder says it was a complete accident but  Young Man United fans are singing songs about players who weren't even playing in their lifetime. Some of them have no heroes. It's damning - It's All Kicking Off

Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane has shed new light on when Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a boot at David Beckham’s head.

Beckham was left requiring stitching above his left eye in 2003 after Ferguson inadvertently struck him with a stray boot in the Manchester United dressing room following the Red Devils’ FA Cup fifth round exit to Arsenal.

Over 20 years later, it remains one of the most infamous dressing room incidents and former United captain has revealed why it happened.

Speaking on Sky Sports while standing in the Old Trafford dressing room, he said:   ‘I think Becks was over there somewhere, somewhere there at the mirror.

‘I think the manager had a go at him for not tracking back and I think Becks said something back.

David Beckham was left with a plaster over his eye after being caught by the flying boot

The infamous Alex Ferguson boot-kicking incident led to David Beckham’s departure from Manchester United in 2003

Roy Keane says it was an accident and that he loved ‘all that stuff’ in the dressing room

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‘It was an accident! He struck it well, but he was so unfortunate, honestly.

‘If it was anybody else it would have been fine but because it was Becks at the time, and obviously Becks was so high profile, and like Jamie [Redknapp], a good-looking guy, that created one or two issues.

‘But that all happens in dressing rooms. I used to love all that stuff.’

Although Ferguson was known for giving players his notorious hairdryer treatment during team talks, it later emerged that he was targeting a pile of clothes on the Old Trafford changing room floor.

Reflecting on the incident back in 2017, Beckham said: ‘I’d made a couple of mistakes during the game and he came into the changing room and we had a couple of words.

‘He started to walk over to me and he kicked a pile of clothes on the floor. Out came this boot and it hit me and then I realised how accurate he actually was!’.