Keane: Blatter would have put me away

Sunderland manager Roy Keane admits he would have gone to prison had FIFA president Sepp Blatter's demand for some tackles to be made a criminal offence come into force while he was a player.

Keane was one of the finest midfield tacklers of his generation but there were occasions when the former Manchester United captain went over the top - most infamous was a knee-high lunge on Alf Inge Haaland during the Manchester derby at Old Trafford in 2001.

Keane said: "I have to be careful with this subject. I would have been doing a bit of 'porridge' myself!"

He added: "People in the media have been saying some of the tackles have been horrendous. I've heard before that if it happened in the street then you might be charged with assault.

"I know there's been one or two court cases over the years. You're opening a can of worms there - I think you'd have to be very careful."

One of Keane's players was on the receiving end of a horrible challenge back in December when Aston Villa's Craig Gardner escaped unpunished despite planting his studs into the chest of Dwight Yorke.

But Keane said: "As bad as that tackle was on Yorkie that day, Yorkie was okay. Luckily, Yorkie's not nasty enough to seek revenge I suppose.

"It's very hard to gauge what's going on in the game because the game is that fast now.

"It's trying to gauge what players mean and what's accidental."