Micah Richards denied being “Roy Keane’s stooge” in court today and was adamant he saw an Arsenal season ticket holder “arch his head back and try to headbutt” his fellow Sky Sports pundit in the Emirates Stadium.
Scott Law, 43, from Waltham Abbey, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of common assault, following the incident at the match between Arsenal and Manchester United on September 3 last year.
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Taking to the witness box this morning, Richards said he “strongly disagreed” with the defending lawyer’s assertion he was “Roy Keane’s puppy”.
He explained how he and Keane were heading down from the Sky Sports studio to the lift for their full time analysis on the pitch when they heard a roar from the crowd and so rushed back.
It was there they learned Alejandro Garnacho had a goal disallowed following a VAR check for what United thought was the winner.
Richards — who described himself in court as a fan of the “mighty Arsenal” — said they then made their way back to the pitch, with Keane behind him.
He said: “I just remember him (Keane) being in the middle of the corridor. I saw a gentleman running towards Roy. We have it all the time, banter, we get abuse as pundits, rightly or wrongly, but a lot of it is fun, the banter. Roy is one of the most high-profile pundits we have. I thought they were going to have a little bit of banter.
“I heard shouting and then as he came closer to Roy, I saw him arch his head back and try to headbutt him. It wasn’t on his face, it was more to the side, to the left lower jaw, going down to the chest.”
Describing the aftermath of the incident Richards said “we were all in shock”.
He told the court: “After the incident I was in shock and so was Roy, I was in disbelief, did that just really happen?
“I think he (Keane) took it quite well, you could see physically he was shaken up, massively. In terms of actual impact, I think the gentleman did have some blood coming from his nose.”
Richards explained how he then tried to restrain the defendant.
The ex-England defender said: “I felt sorry for Roy just because of the fact you’ve come to work to do your job and you’ve been assaulted and I could see he was physically shaken up. You’d do what any friend or colleague would do and step in to try to help the situation.
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“I grappled with the gentleman for a while, I believe I was saying ‘what have you done that for?’ I grabbed him and pushed him further out of the corridor. I had him and I couldn’t hold him for long enough and I think he ran off, I was trying to restrain him until security could deal with it.
“You just couldn’t believe what was happening.”
Charlie Sherrard KC, defending, accused Richards of lying about seeing the headbutt and described him as “Mr Keane’s puppy.”
Mr Sherrard said: “I’m going to suggest you never saw a headbutt at all and that you’ve claimed to have seen that as Roy’s mate”, also calling him “Roy Keane’s stooge.”
Richards strongly disagreed with that claim.
Mr Sherrard said: “But you don’t want to go into that much detail in case it goes wrong?”
Richards told him: “No, I quite like detail to be honest.” He went on: “I’ve seen someone coming towards Roy Keane, swiftly. I saw him putting his head back and headbutting him.”
Mr Sherrard at one point suggested Law’s “reputation is on the line.”
Richards replied: “His reputation was on the line when someone was going to work and someone has been assaulted. If you want to go into the technical details, I saw what I saw. You can dress it up however you want to.”
Turning to the lawyer, he added: “Have you been headbutted? It was a surreal moment, I wasn’t going to a UFC match. I was at work.”
Losing his cool with Mr Sherrard KC at the end of his questioning, Richards said: “Why would Roy Keane react like that if that (the headbutt) had not happened to him? You have called me a liar on the stand, saying I have not seen the headbutt, which is false. This makes zero sense.
“You’ve tried to mince my words a lot today, I know what I saw.”
Earlier in the trial Mr Sherrard showed enhanced footage of the aftermath of the initial confrontation, and suggested it showed Keane directing his right elbow into the defendant’s face, connecting with his nose.
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Quizzing Richards on that today, he said: “I’m going to suggest this where you are Mr Keane’s puppy. It’s an uppercut elbow to the nose?”
Richards disagreed, saying: “I wouldn’t describe it as an elbow, he’s trying to defend himself.”
Mr Sherrard said: “That’s an elbow isn’t it? You’d get sent off for that.”
Richards shot back: “No you wouldn’t. He’s standing his ground.”
Speaking today, Law, a married father of two young children and a civil engineer, described himself as “happy-go-lucky” and “just a normal man.”
The court heard how he has a season ticket in the club level section of the Emirates, that costs £5,000, and said he valued that “like you wouldn’t believe.”
He told the court he’d had “some banter” with Keane throughout the game, describing the former Manchester United captain as “very animated and angry.” He claimed Keane was “right up against the glass, banging on the window.”
As the “banter turned aggressive” and after making a rude hand gesture in the direction of the Sky Sports studio, Law said he nipped to the toilet when he saw Keane coming towards him.
He said Keane told him “say it to my face, you fat c***” and was visibly angry.
Claiming he did not headbutt Keane, Law said was “scared and terrified because obviously Roy Keane is renowned as the hard man of football, which is still perpetuated by the media today.”
He said he didn’t want any physical confrontation and so he froze and stopped in his tracks.
Law said: “I was convinced I was going to be attacked and I put my head down because of the aggressive nature of his approach to me, and also the words he said to me. It wasn’t friendly. I think as I put my head down he just collided with me, comes into me. At that point we both stumbled back.”
The defendant claimed the injuries to his nose were inflicted by Keane’s elbow.
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Cross-examining, prosecutor Simon Jones asked Law: “Are you seriously saying ‘Roy Keane ran into the top of my head’?
Law replied: “Yes sir.”
In his prepared statement, Law referred to lowering his head in a “pre-emptive strike”, but in court said he would not have used those words and put that down to a sleepless night before handing himself in to police.
In his closing submission, Mr Jones said: “Roy Keane was about to go live on air to millions. The idea he would seek confrontation in the way that has been described lacks credibility.
“He (the defendant) was hyped up, he was on his way from his seat and when he saw the man who captained Manchester United in that corridor, he was intent on violence. That is the reality of this case.”
In response, Mr Sherrard claimed the defendant had not been granted a fair trial.
He said Keane had earned his “hard man” reputation, was an “uncompromising player on the pitch” and that “nothing had changed”.
He added: “It’s only since [the enhanced] footage in this case has been played that people can realise what Roy Keane did and how his chum Micah Richards would back him up no matter what.”
The three-day trial has now concluded and a decision is expected next week.
(Photo by Lucy North/PA Images via Getty Images)