Martin Keown has urged Roy Keane to filter his thoughts following a personal attack on former Republic of Ireland forward Jonathan Walters.
Keane has made the headlines in recent days after a string of outbursts at a Cadbury event in Dublin.
The Manchester United icon reignited his feud with Sir Alex Ferguson, taking a swipe at the legendary manager’s family, and also dug out Irish duo Harry Arter and Stephen Ward.
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But Keane reserved his most personal criticism for Walters.
The 35-year-old revealed in a May television interview his heartache of losing his mother when he was just 11, along with his brother last year.
And Keane mentioned that interview, saying: “He talks a good game.
“Imagine if he’d won a trophy. He goes on the TV about how he was harshly treated by me. He’s crying on the TV about his family situation.”
Keown, like Keane, has enjoyed a successful media career following his retirement from playing.
And the former Arsenal defender says Keane took it too far this time.
“I think there’s a lot of good about Roy, but he’s got to work very hard to suppress these inner thoughts and feelings that he has,” Keown told talkSPORT.
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“I know there’s an audience there that wants ‘Roy Keane content’. He can be TV gold. He’s almost like how Brian Clough used to be; he says exactly what people might think but don’t say.
“But in this situation, when someone is dealing with grieving, we shouldn’t really be judge and jury to how they behave and how they deal with it.
“If someone publicly wants to go into those details, why is Roy a better man than Jonathan Walters to decide how he should behave, how he recovers and deals with that grief?”