Jason McAteer: Roy Keane-Mick McCarthy film 'will be blockbuster'

"It's gonna be a blockbuster! I don't think Roy's gonna come out too well in this film to be honest."

Jason McAteer is looking forward to seeing Saipan at the cinema. After all, the former Liverpool midfielder is set to be portrayed in it.

However, the tale of the infamous bust-up between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy at the 2002 World Cup is not a great memory for him.

Steve Coogan has been cast as Republic of Ireland manager McCarthy, with Éanna Hardwicke taking on the Keane role as they depict the fallout, which took place on the small Japanese island of Saipan and resulted in the captain leaving the camp.

McAteer, 53, first got wind of the project via a text from an actor friend in Ireland.

"It was a picture of this kid and he asked 'do you think this guy can play you in a movie?" he told the BBC podcast, Sacked in the Morning. "Obviously it was Brad Pitt - I'm joking.

"He said they're making a film about Saipan and I was like 'shut up'. I asked was it a documentary and he went 'no, it's a big movie'."

Manchester United midfielder Keane had angered the FA of Ireland by giving a newspaper interview in which he criticised training facilities, including a "rock hard" pitch and missing equipment.

McCarthy's decision to send Keane home triggered a media frenzy and divided supporters.

"There was always tension between Roy and Mick," McAteer remembered. "It went back from when they played together.

"When Mick was (Republic of Ireland) captain and Roy was a young kid, they clashed a number of times.

"Then Mick got the manager's job and Roy became one of the best midfielders in the world, so it was always a difficult relationship."

McAteer explained that the trip to Saipan "was only supposed to be a relaxing three or four days".

He added: "We were struggling with jet lag and tiredness and there were a few things that needed ironing out. Unfortunately, it escalated to the point where, in a team meeting, Mick and Roy decided to air their views on each other, which didn't go down very well."

The public row even led to an offer of diplomatic intervention from the Irish government, but Keane would not play international football again until 2004, after McCarthy had stepped down.

"It just got to the point where it was a slagging match," McAteer, who won 53 caps from 1994-2004, said.

"I'd been involved in fights in dressing rooms. I'd seen managers lose their temper. I'd seen players throw punches, but I'd never been involved in an argument which escalated to such a point where one of them was gonna snap - and they did. And it was Roy.

"What followed was just ridiculous. The country was split in half, it got political, players were dragged into it. We weren't allowed out of the hotel, we weren't allowed out to talk to the press.

"It soured the situation, to be honest. I'd been involved in World Cup '94, which was the best six weeks of my life.

"The World Cup is amazing and we'd earned the right to be there again. It was there to be enjoyed and unfortunately this overshadowed everything."