Harry Arter has opened up on his now-infamous row with Roy Keane last summer.
Arter was targeted by Keane in an expletive-filled rant after the midfielder missed Ireland training with an injury, with the row ultimately forcing Arter to make himself unavailable for the national team’s September fixtures.
Keane reportedly referred to Arter as a “prick” and a “wanker” in the tirade, the details of which were made public in a leaked WhatsApp recording from Stephen Ward last September.
Arter returned to the Ireland squad before Keane and Martin O’Neill parted ways with the national team in November and in a new interview with the Sunday Times, the midfielder has explained that he was just following orders by sitting out training.
“The older you get you are always carrying injuries and at the time I was following advice from the Bournemouth medical team and the Irish team doctors. I followed their rules and their training plan for me. And that was it,” Arter said.
There could soon be a resolution in the dispute between Roy Keane and Harry Arter https://t.co/3hTqSwwrEa
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 12, 2018
Arter left Bournemouth on loan last August and has impressed during his time with Neil Warnock’s Cardiff City but he admitted that it was difficult to choose to make himself unavailable for the first international break of the season.
“It was tough, but I made that decision on what I considered the best for the team to be perfectly honest with you,” he said.
“As much as it wasn’t right for me personally, I felt that I don’t want to have any bad effect on the team because I wasn’t comfortable at the time going away.
“I am a grown man and I can make my own decisions. If I don’t feel comfortable with a situation then that is it.”
Arter has previously revealed that he and Keane “spoke like men” in order to resolve the dispute and while the pair won’t have any more dealings with one another in the Irish camp, at least they were able to put their differences behind them.
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