Roy Keane leaves Ian Wright in stitches with jibe about England playing DARTS before World Cup draw

Ian Wright and Gary Neville were left in stitches after Roy Keane displayed his curmudgeonly attitude to England stars playing darts before Friday night’s drab World Cup draw with the USA.

ITV pundit and former Three Lions striker Wright was shown before the game heading into the England camp to play a good-natured game of darts with Declan Rice in footage that apparently did not impress Keane.

“I never believe all that nonsense, people saying there’s a great [team spirit],” he said pre-game. “You never hear a manager say there’s a bad spirit in the group.

“There should be [a good spirit] after the first game and three, four days away. They look fairly happy, they’re having a game of darts. They’re going to be upbeat.

“Most important thing is they’re over here to win football matches... we’ll see if they’re laughing in a few weeks.”

Keane’s stony-faced analysis was met with chuckles by Wright and Neville but the Irish ex-midfielder raised the matter again after the game, drawing howls of laughter from his colleagues.

“We’ll be here all night making excuses,” he said of a potential issue for England playing at 10pm.

“That’s for lots of teams, it’s what you have to do when you’re a professional footballer. These players travel all over Europe playing in different conditions, different systems.

“They were playing darts last night,” he added, before being drowned out by laughter. “But it happens, we’re not here to crucify the players.”

Wright remarked: “I knew it! I knew he was gonna come with that.”