In the past couple of weeks one subject has dominated the sports pages, both nationally and here in Manchester.

That subject is Manchester United captain Roy Keane and the admission in his autobiography that he deliberately set out to injure my Manchester City teammate, Alf Inge Haaland.

Roy said in a newspaper serialisation of his new autobiography that he had targeted Alf in April last year in revenge for a challenge three years earlier which had ruled him out for most of the 1997-8 season.

It was a bad tackle and caused a career-threatening injury and Roy was quite rightly sent off for it.

But if the tackle was not bad enough, he has now compounded the matter by saying he meant to do it.

I know hard-tackling players at our club but I have never known any of them say that they were deliberately going to go out and hurt a particular player.

At the end of the day Roy is probably just trying to sell his book. I don't think he's a fool - he knows saying something controversial will cause there to be more interest in his autobiography that there might otherwise have been.

I must say, though, that I found it bizarre that United okayed it and did not question the possible repercussions.

Aside from the possible legal action, it will certainly make the first 'derby' match between United and ourselves all the more interesting, as if it needed any additional ingredient.

Alf himself has been quietly going about the business of trying to get himself fit.

When I spoke to him he said his people were looking into the matter and were deciding what was the best thing to do. He has been really calm about it and has not lost his temper or anything like that. He is probably right to downplay it and then if it goes to court take it from there.

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I played for the reserves on Tuesday night as I continue my rehabilitation after my broken toe.

We played in Manchester Senior Cup against Oldham Athletic and put out a strong side on paper including a number of first teamers such as Gerard Wiekens and Lucien Mettomo. Goalkeeper Tim Flowers, who joined us on loan from Leicester City, was also playing but despite the names I have mentioned we lost 3-0.

It was a disappointing result but at least I was able to get 90 minutes under my belt.

We play Newcastle United at Maine Road on Saturday and I would hope that, as a result of lasting the full match, I will be among the substitutes.

I was actually on the bench for our opening game of the season against Leeds last weekend, which came as somewhat of a surprise to me given my current situation.

We lost 3-0 and there was never really any chance that I would come on. We started out with just Nicolas Anelka up front and then when the game began to go away from us the gaffer, Kevin Keegan, threw on Darren Huckerby, who has had an excellent pre-season.

Had the score been the other way round then I might have found myself playing for five or ten minutes, but losing 3-0 there was no way I was going to get on.

We had a debriefing afterwards and, though disappointed, the manager preferred to concentrate on the positive aspects of the game. We created a number of chances that if we had converted when we were only 1-0 down might have produced a different game. If it had been half way through the season his reaction may have been different.

It should be a great atmosphere on Saturday as Newcastle's fans are among the best in the country and together with our own support the noise around the stadium should be intense. With our manager still being held in such high regard in the North-East following his team at St James' Park it should add that little extra spice to the occasion.

I would be surprised if I was not among the substitutes for the match and I hope to get a bit of a run out at some point during the proceedings. It's important for me to get back out there in the thick of the action and do my best for the team. Hopefully, if that does happen and I do well I can earn a regular place in the starting line up and start doing what I do best, scoring goals.