Roy Keane's visit to Cleverley blown out of proportion

Reports claimed that Keane turned up at Cleverley's gated mansion because he believed that the on-loan Manchester United midfielder was behind stories alleging that a series of spats with players lay behind his decision to step away from Villa.

It was suggested that Keane rang the doorbell for a period of time but left when nobody answered, with the images captured on by Cleverley.

Villa supremo Paul Lambert confirmed the visit yesterday, but insisted that the story has been exaggerated by the media.

Questions

"I spoke to Tom this morning briefly, and he assures me that what is being portrayed is certainly not what happened. That was it, really," said Lambert, who is tired of fielding persistent questions about his old deputy who stepped away to concentrate on his Irish commitments.

"I've probably spoken about Roy more since he's left than when he was here," continued the Scot.

"I think you should give the guy a break. From the brief chat I had with Tom, it certainly wasn't how it was portrayed. That was what Tom told me this morning."

Last weekend, a detailed English newspaper piece claimed that Keane had fallen out with Gabriel Agbanlahor and Fabian Delph.

It suggested that Agbahlahor had taken exception to Keane interrupting a dispute between the player and manager, while Delph did not enjoy criticism from the Corkman during the pre-season preparations which bred discontent.

However, it is believed that other players in the squad did enjoy working with the 43-year-old.

Lambert is still in contact with Keane and says their friendship will live on.

He added: "I speak to Roy. We're good pals, not just in this regard but we're good pals in general and that will always be the same. Roy's obviously got his Ireland role to contend with and work on, trying to qualify for Euro 2016. There's no problem on that side. He's my pal. I spoke to Tom and the matter is finished."

Meanwhile, Ireland defender Seamus Coleman has praised former manager Giovanni Trapattoni for his role in his development.

Coleman was sparingly used by the Italian and missed out on his Euro 2012 squad but says there are no hard feelings.

"I obviously felt that I should have got more caps than I did because I was playing quite well at the time for Everton and the manager didn't see fit to put me in," said Coleman, speaking to RTE on account of his nomination for their Sports Person of the Year award.

"But on the other hand, Ireland were doing really well to qualify for major tournaments. I know the media side of things wanted me playing but I never had a problem with Giovanni Trapattoni and if anything I learned a lot from him on the defensive side of things."

The Donegal man remains confident about Ireland's Euro 2016 qualification prospects despite the deflating reverse in Scotland last month.

"We were obviously disappointed with the Scotland game but the lads did absolutely brilliantly to get a result out in Germany," he said.

"We have still got Poland to play home and away and still got Scotland. It is still early days in the group and I'm sure that we can qualify."

Coleman's international colleague Glenn Whelan has been told that he will not be going anywhere in January by Stoke boss Mark Hughes.

Whelan is in a contract dispute with his employers as he is looking for a two year extension to his deal which expires next summer - but Stoke are only willing to offer a one-year contract and that has alerted clubs to the possibility of a transfer when the window re-opens.

Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Swansea are keeping tabs on his movement.

His team-mate Peter Crouch is in the same situation and Hughes - who has spoken with his board about it - addressed the issue at his weekly press conference.

"There's something on the table with Glenn, there was early in the season," said the Welshman, "There's any number of players that their situation is fluid, we just have to make sure that Stoke City remain strong as a club.

"From our point of view, we're not anticipating any players leaving. There's any number of players that we want to keep."