‘After sending off Roy Keane, I didn’t referee Manchester united for two years’… Jeff Winter reminisces over massive call

EXCLUSIVE: After making the decision to send-off Roy Keane against Southampton, Jeff Winter didn’t referee Manchester United for another two years, with the retired official now speculating whether that was a coincidence or not.

The life-long Middlesbrough fan, who strived to always keep 22 players on the pitch, didn’t enjoy whipping out his cards, but when he deemed it necessary, he wasn’t afraid of making major decisions.

Jeff Winter looks back at sending off Roy Keane

During his esteemed career, Jeff Winter, who was in the first group of professional referees, enjoyed a laugh and a joke with the footballers, often making jibes at their failed attempts on goal, happily telling them, ‘That was s**te’, in a bid to get on their level and ultimately earn their respect.

However, that didn’t prevent him from going into his pocket when he had to, once sending-off Roy Keane for a second bookable offense. 

This decision is one he looks back on with intrigue, wondering whether his call was the reason he didn’t referee a Manchester United game for another two years.

In an exclusive interview with Sporf, via Free Bets, he said: “I wasn’t the most experienced referee in the Premier League, so you can’t hold your hands up and say, ‘I was right all the time’. I think I’d only been in the Premier League for two or three years at that stage.

“I cautioned Roy Keane early on, and then he commits another cautionable offense. At that time, our hierarchy was wanting consistency, and it was wanting strong refereeing, and I send him off 25 minutes into the game, I think.

“Maybe it was coincidence, people say that the big clubs are the most powerful, but coincidence or not, I didn’t referee Manchester United for another two years. When I was writing up my autobiography, I looked up the facts and figures and in that period, other than the teams that had just been promoted, and had only perhaps been in the Premier League for a season, I’d refereed other teams at least two or three times, and some of them four or fives times. During that two-year period, I didn’t referee Manchester United again. Now, that might just be a quirk of fate, but other people might say, ‘Well Manchester United weren’t happy with me’, when I refereed them and were a powerful club and perhaps got what they wanted. I don’t know the answer to that, but I’ve got my suspicions.”

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