Former Manchester United man, Roy Keane, has said that the club should be ‘pretty ashamed’ over their decision to withdraw from the FA Cup in 2000.
The Red Devils had then accepted the FA’s offer to miss the competition in order to play in the inaugural World Team Championship.
Withdrawing from the FA Cup allowed the Red Devils play in the competition now known as the Club World Cup.
They were the defending champions going into that year’s FA Cup but the FA believed the club’s participation in the World Team Championship would aid England’s 2006 World Cup bid.
Chelsea went on to win the FA Cup in 2000, beating Aston Villa in the final.
This happened during Sir Alex Ferguson’s long reign as the Red Devils manager and it attracted widespread criticism from supporters.
Keane, Manchester United’s captain at the time, said the Red Devils should be ‘pretty ashamed’ of their decision to pull out of the FA Cup.
“I think one thing that was definitely better back in the day was the FA Cup,” former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on The Stick to Football podcast. “That was magic when we were playing.”
Keane, then added, “I think the magic has come back a bit the last few years now.
“When you think of it when we were at United, we should be pretty ashamed because we pulled out of the FA Cup.
“I know it wasn’t down to us but we accepted it as players. How mad was that, your team pulling out of the FA Cup.”
Roy Keane is a four-time winner of the FA Cup with Manchester United.
