Tottenham: Maddison aims dig at Keane after John Terry joke as Postecoglou insists ‘mate, I’m a winner’
James Maddison aimed a jibe Roy Keane following Tottenham’s victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final after the pundit criticised him earlier in the season.
Maddison had to watch from the stands due to injury as Brennan Johnson scored the only goal of the game in San Mames to end Spurs’ 17-year trophy drought.
But the playmaker took the opportunity in an interview after the game to aim a sly dig at Keane.
He told Peter Schemeichel: “I wasn’t gonna do any interviews, but I heard Roy Keane was in the studio tonight.”
The England midfielder was then asked by Micah Richards to whip out his trademark darts celebration, to which he replied: “Oh, I will, Micah, with pleasure!
“Roy Keane, that’s for you, son.”
Keane then hit back with a cheeky dig of his own while doubling down on his criticism of the 28-year-old.
He responded: “I always said he was a good player but he needs to be more consistent. And he played well tonight!”
Maddison was in his full kit for the trophy lift and on-pitch celebrations despite not being in the matchday squad, but insisted he was not doing a full John Terry, who infamously also put on his shin pads to celebrate Chelsea’s 2012 Champions League win.
“They said I had to put the kit on to get a medal!” he explained. “I didn’t want to do a John Terry!
“What a special feeling. Winning makes [the season] all alright – the pain of not being able to play is not being able to help the team.
“It is a brilliant achievement and a way to qualify for the Champions League but it is more winning for the fans.
“They have had years of pain.”
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Ange Postecoglou has been criticised far more than Maddison this season and many still expect him to be sacked despite guiding Spurs to the trophy.
But the Australian boss believes his job isn’t yet done at Spurs, insisting “mate, I’m a winner”.
“All I’ve done in my career is win,” he said. “Even Daniel [Levy, Spurs’ chairman] said: ‘We’ve gone for winners [in the past] and now we have Ange.’ Mate, I’m a winner.
“We’re still building this team. We need to add some experience to it. I’m the manager of the football club, that decision is not in my hands. All I care about is this thing [his medal]. There are no meetings planned – no one has said anything to me.
“All I know is I’m going to go back to my hotel room, open a bottle of scotch, have a couple of quiet ones and prepare for a big parade on Friday. I don’t feel like I’ve completed the job yet, we’re still building. The moment I took the job, I wanted to win something. We’ve done that. It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever done.
“The moment I accepted the role [as manager] I had one thing in my head, and that was to win something,” Postecoglou added. “More than anything else I had that in my head, and we’ve done that now so I want to build on it. I am super proud – this is one for the true believers. I’m still taking it all in. I know what it means for this football club. The longer it goes, the harder it is to break that cycle.
“I could sense the nerves in everyone at the club and until you take that monkey off your back, you never understand what it feels like.
“We have a young group and I hope by tasting this, the players feel different about themselves and what it means to them is unbelievable. I’ve always felt knockout football is different to league football and when you’re in that situation it comes down to good organisation, having a real gameplan and moments and you can minimise moments by having a strong foundation.”
