Roy Keane stormed around to Tom Cleverley's house to confront him about the alleged rumours the Irishman had a training ground bust-up while at Aston Villa.

According to reports today, Keane blamed Cleverley for starting stories about an altercation with another player the day before he left Aston Villa.

Is is reported that Keane turned up at Cleverley's walled mansion and waited outside for up to 15 minutes before walking away as no-one answered.

It is also reported that Keane, who lives nearby in Chesire, was caught on CCTV and it is understood that the Corkman now believes that Cleverley, who is on loan at Villa from Manchester United, is not the player behind the stories.

Villa manager Paul Lambert has strongly refuted suggestions that Keane's departure from the club stemmed from a series of rows with senior players at the club.

Sticking to the party line that Keane's shock resignation from his role as assistant manager was due to a heavy workload mixing club and international football, Lambert insisted that reports claiming Keane was at war with Gabby Agbonlahor and Fabian Delph were inaccurate.

The Cork-man resigned over three weeks ago from his position as Lambert's No 2. Since then, it has been reported that Keane was an unpopular figure in the dressing room, a claim Lambert denies.

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"There were no issues whatsoever," said Lambert. "I spoke to Roy this morning and had a chat last night as well. The guy is run off his feet with his Irish commitments and I respected that. It is absolute nonsense what has been written about him.

"I find it bizarre because Roy was great for me, great for everybody at the football club. So I have nothing but thanks for Roy for coming in. There weren't any bad words on anything.

"That is the disappointing thing, to read a headline whereby people said there was a poisonous atmosphere here when Roy was here. That is laughable."

So too was the suggestion that Villa's players felt they were not 'paid enough to put up with crap' from Keane.

Watching this from afar was a prominent member of the Ireland squad, who wished not to be named when contacted last week, and who feels Keane's departure from Aston Villa will benefit the national team.

"To be honest, I couldn't care less about Aston Villa," said the player. "But if their players are having a go at Roy now that he has gone then that is a bit of a cheap shot, an easy way out.

"Since he came in, Roy's been great for us. He's passionate about his country, wants us to do well and wants us to qualify. He drives us on, pushes us in training.

"You saw how he reacted when we scored against Germany.

"He's right behind us and if he is able to give even more time to Ireland now that he isn't with Villa then that's good for us."

Online Editors