Martin Keown insists Ruud van Nistelrooy was to blame for the brawl at Old Trafford in 2003 which cost Arsenal £275,000.
The former Manchester United striker played the role of pantomime villain to perfection during a feisty encounter with the Gunners.
United, who feature live on GameDay on talkSPORT tomorrow at 12.30pm against Aston Villa, had the opportunity to derail Arsenal’s ‘Invincible’ season as early as September.
Fixtures between the two sides in the embryonic stages of the Premier League tended to be ill-tempered, with Sol Campbell seeing red for an elbow on current Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer six months prior.
In an FA Cup game in February of that year, Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a boot at David Beckham and left him with stitches in his face – such was his dismay at losing to Arsene Wenger’s men.
And the Scot had the perfect chance to gain vengeance on the north London outfit the following season when Patrick Vieira was shown a red card for kicking out at Van Nistelrooy in retaliation for a late challenge.
The Netherlands striker had the opportunity to add insult to injury in the final minute of the game after being hauled down in the box by Keown, only to crash his penalty against the bar.
It sparked wild scenes from the visitors, with ugly scenes as tempers flared, with both sides feeling the pinch financially due to fines from the Football Association as six Arsenal players were charged.
Former England defender Keown insists he had no regrets about the brawl itself, although it did cost him dearly.
“People say, ‘do you regret it?’ I don’t really regret anything in my life,” Keown said on White and Jordan.
“You look back and if it was right then, it was right now. When I make my decisions, that’s how I am.
“I don’t really enjoy what it might represent and then what it meant to the football club in terms of fines and in terms of suspensions.
“Lauren got four games, I got three games, Vieira got one game, Parlour got one game – it’s unbelievable!
“You look back at it; £275,000 worth of fines. Little do people know that actually I was only earning 25% was like a flat fee.
“The rest of it, the remaining 75% came in appearance money. So it was actually costing me far more.”
Ray Parlour joined talkSPORT Breakfast earlier in the week and joked that his former teammates was the instigator of the fracas.
However, Keown insisted it was actually Van Nistelrooy to blame for the incident which would be later known as ‘The Battle of Old Trafford’.
“He’s not accurate in terms of who started it,” Keown said. “You have to go back all the way to Patrick Vieira being sent off.
“Ruud van Nistelrooy feigns injury, you could say it was cheating, he goes down and Patrick Vieira gets sent off.
“Then after that, it was like the Alamo, because they saw they had a chance to win the game. They had a penalty, which you could argue wasn’t a penalty, which I am involved in.
“There was a few fingers pointed from my teammates, but he misses and then of course, he is the figure of hate really.
“We were only in that position we feel, because he got one of our colleagues sent off.”
Although there was bad blood at the time Keown insisted he and the former United striker managed to make amends before the FA Cup quarter-final at Villa Park (the venue for Saturday’s kick-off live on talkSPORT).
talkSPORT Selector
Play talkSPORT Selector and you could win big money
- Win a share of £25,000+
- Pick a Premier League team to win each week
- Entries cost £10
- 18+, Please gamble responsibly, gambleaware.org
- Sign up here
“Immediately afterwards, I think it was an FA Cup game, I went to shake his hand and he cowered a bit.
“But I said I was apologising, he tried to sort of back away! But I shook his hand and I said, ‘Don’t take it personal!’
“I don’t think any of those guys did.”