Beckham leads support for sent-off Keane

The Manchester United dressing-room will stand by Roy Keane even though David Beckham admits his captain was wrong to elbow Jason McAteer at Sunderland on Saturday.

While accepting that a red card was inevitable for Keane's last-minute transgression at the Stadium of Light, Beckham also believes McAteer made the most of the incident.

However, the England captain refutes any suggestion that Keane has become alienated in the United camp because of his actions, following on from the controversial comments about his team-mates in his autobiography.

"Roy knows he was wrong and he was disappointed but he is our captain and as far as we are concerned we stick by him," Beckham said.

"Roy's arm came across McAteer but it didn't catch him as much as he made out. I told him he shouldn't have gone down.

"When any player gets the amount of stick Roy has done, he can expect the rest of the squad and the manager to stand by him. Roy has been magnificent for us all season and whether we think he is right or wrong stays in the club. We all rally round."

United's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has now accepted that Keane deserved to be sent off. After the match he had described Keane's actions as "innocuous" and accused McAteer of play-acting. But yesterday he said: "We won't appeal, the referee had no choice but to send him off. The replay I was shown immediately after the match was misleading. When I saw the TV pictures from a different angle, I saw the referee had no choice."

Keane will be available for tonight's home game against Middlesbrough, where Sir Alex is likely to give Paul Tierney, a Republic of Ireland Under-21 international, his debut if the French defender Mickaël Silvestre fails to overcome a neck injury

The controversy surrounding Keane's autobiography continued yesterday when the Belfast club Linfield threatened to sue the Manchester United captain.

Linfield officials object to allegations made in Keane's book which they claim are "disgraceful".

Referring to the atmosphere at Linfield's Windsor Park home before a 1993 World Cup qualifier between the North and the Republic, Keane wrote: "Linfield was a Protestant club. For the first time in its history Linfield had recently signed a Catholic, a decision that caused great controversy. The player, who was also black, another major problem for Linfield's bigoted supporters, didn't last long (nor did the manager who signed him)."

The Linfield chairman, Billy McCoubrey, said the club's legal advisers would decide whether to take further action. "It is a disgrace," he said. "Linfield Football Club has had Catholic players since the post-war era, including some famous internationals. Roy Coyle was the manager who signed two black players and he left the club of his own accord after 13 years.

"One of the black players, Tony Coly, is still a hero among the Linfield support for the outstanding service he gave the club ­ and he was signed five years before the international Keane is talking about. I don't know where this misinformation is coming from but it is nonsense."