Football League World
·23 août 2025
Ipswich Town fans will never forget the 62-goal cult hero that Roy Keane almost "physically attacked"

In partnership with
Yahoo sportsFootball League World
·23 août 2025
Pablo Counago was a popular figure among Ipswich Town supporters, but Roy Keane was not a fan of the striker.
Ipswich Town have been a stable club in recent years under the guidance of Kieran McKenna, but it is fair to say that has not always been the case under some of their previous managers.
McKenna will go down in history as the manager who led Ipswich to back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League, and with the club now back in the Championship, he will be looking to add another chapter to his incredible Portman Road story.
However, while McKenna is universally popular among Tractor Boys supporters, some of his predecessors certainly divided opinion, and Roy Keane was one of those who failed to win over the fanbase.
Keane arrived at Ipswich with a strong managerial reputation, having led Sunderland to promotion to the Premier League in his previous job, but he failed to reach anywhere near the same heights with the Suffolk outfit, and after an inconsistent 20-month spell at the helm, he was sacked in January 2011 with the club sitting 19th in the second tier.
The 54-year-old was known for being a fiery character during his playing days, and that was no different during his time in charge of the Tractor Boys, with striker Pablo Counago one of those who got on the wrong side of him.
After being spotted by then-manager George Burley while playing for Spain's Under-21s against England, Ipswich signed Counago from Celta Vigo in the summer of 2001 on a four-year contract.
Counago failed to score a single goal in his first year at Portman Road as the Tractor Boys were relegated from the Premier League, but he found his form in his second season as he netted 21 goals in 48 appearances, but it was not enough to guide his side into the top six in the First Division.
The striker then scored 12 goals in 32 appearances in the 2003-04 campaign as Ipswich again missed out on promotion, and with Darren Bent and Shefki Kuqi both preferred ahead of him the following season, he found the back of the net just three times in 22 games.
After his underwhelming campaign, Counago departed Portman Road to join Malaga in the summer of 2005, but that would not be the end of his journey with the Tractor Boys as he returned just two years later following his release by the Spanish outfit.
Bringing Counago back proved to be a shrewd decision by Ipswich as he scored a combined total of 23 goals across the first two seasons of his second spell, and supporters were delighted when he turned down a move to Swansea City in the summer of 2009, despite the two clubs agreeing a fee.
However, Counago would live to regret opting to remain in Suffolk as he soon fell out of favour under Keane, and he scored just three goals in 29 appearances in the Irishman's first full season in charge, during which time their relationship became increasingly strained.
It was, therefore, little surprise when Keane sent Counago out on loan to Crystal Palace for the 2010-11 season, and after he netted just two goals in 32 appearances for the Eagles, he was released by the Tractor Boys in the summer following his return from Selhurst Park.
If Ipswich supporters thought that Counago's exit from Portman Road would mark the end of his feud with Keane, they were mistaken.
Over three years on from his sacking by the Tractor Boys, Keane launched a scathing attack on Counago in his book The Second Half, describing the Spaniard as "dead lazy" and claiming that he was "a player I didn't particularly like or get on with", and in an even more shocking admission, he admitted that he "nearly physically attacked him".
The bitter war of words between Keane and Counago escalated further when the striker issued a response to his former manager's comments, and he did not hold back in his assessment of the ex-Manchester United midfielder.
"I could say lots of awful things about him but I don't feel right speaking about him, I feel sorry for him. That's why whatever he says about me, I don't take offence, even though he's not telling the truth about me," Counago told TWTD.
"It seems like he needs to criticise players, managers and directors to keep selling books as he is not able to do anything else in football. It is a very sad ending for a person that was so big as a player.
"As I told him once, I think he is a complete mess as a football manager. As he has said in his book, he wanted to hit me, but behind his appearance there's a coward.
"I just hope he can find happiness in his life as, in my opinion, being that miserable must be very mentally draining."
Given that Keane failed to deliver any kind of success during his time as Ipswich manager, he is not held in particularly high regard at Portman Road, so there are unlikely to be too many Tractor Boys supporters who will share his view of Counago.
While Counago may be best known by the wider football world as the player who attracted Keane's wrath, he will be remembered as a cult hero by the Ipswich faithful, and they will forever be grateful to him for his contribution across his two spells at the club.