The 30-year-old midfielder attacked the 17-hour flight to get to Saipan and blasted the training conditions.

He told a national newspaper: ‘‘I spoke to the manager and I’ll stick it out till after the World Cup and that will be it for me. Without a doubt.’’

The firebrand Old Trafford legend confessed he had previously had no intention to quit after the World Cup, but that circumstances had forced his hand.

He added: ‘‘I was definitely going to the European Championships in 2004. Without a doubt. Maybe no friendly internationals but .... it gets harder, no matter what you are doing. That’s all. I had no intentions of quitting.

‘‘I do love the 90 minutes, it’s the rest of the crap. I’m sure the other players love their kids, but I can’t worry about the other players. I have to worry about me.

‘‘I travel a lot, I have four kids. I miss them. Everyone is different. All I can do is look after me and my family. The European Championships would have been my swansong. It’s just come early.’’

Keane described his frustration with a number of issues surrounding the World Cup trip, and insisted his gripe with training facilities in Saipan was just ‘‘the tip of the iceberg’’.

He added: ‘‘I’ve come over here to do well and I want people around me to want to do well. If I feel we’re not all wanting the same things, there’s no point. It’s been going on a while.

‘‘It’s the whole fact of being away. Maybe I should be okay with it, but enough is enough.

‘‘I’m banging my head against a brick wall regarding certain issues about this trip. From the training facilities to all sorts. This trip is the tip of the iceberg.

‘‘You’ve seen the training pitch and I’m not being a primadonna. Training pitch, travel arrangements, getting through the bloody airport when we were leaving, it’s the combination of things. I would never say ‘that’s the reason or this is the reason’, but enough is enough,’’ Keane added.

Keane was unhappy about the long-haul flight to Saipan, commenting: ‘‘It’s different if we came here to a top training facility. The hotel is fine, but we’ve come here to work. You wonder why players get injured? Well, playing on a surface like that.

‘‘I can’t imagine any other country, countries in the world who are far worse off than us, playing on something like that. I don’t think it’s too much to ask, just for a pitch that’s even watered. It’s so dangerous. It’s rock hard.

‘‘One or two of the lads have picked up injuries. I’m amazed there hasn’t been more but give it time. But you know, we’re the Irish team, it’s a laugh and a joke. We shouldn’t expect too much.’’

Keane was also upset at criticism of him for not attending Niall Quinn’s testimonial at the Stadium of Light on May 14.

He said: ‘‘It was straightforward. I was injured, I wasn’t fit. Then coming over on Wednesday on the plane I got a couple of complimentary papers and the word ‘disrespectful’ was mentioned.

‘‘People said I should have been in the stand in a shirt and tie. I was going away on Wednesday for five weeks - what was I supposed to do? Sit in the stand? Do you think I would have been left alone up there?

‘Do you think Quinny would have been going ‘ah, cheers Roy for coming.’

‘‘That wouldn’t have been the case. I wasn’t fit. It was a choice. To spend the last night with my wife and kids.

‘‘As it happened I went to the pictures with my wife at about 9pm after a day with the kids. It was that or be up in Sunderland sitting in the stand. I’d very little time with Theresa and the kids at the end of a long year.

‘‘I played Saturday, had treatment on Monday and Tuesday and left for here on Friday.

‘‘Good luck to Quinny with what he’s doing, but I don’t need to be involved in the whole hullaballoo. My conscience is clear. Yeah, I wasn’t happy, but I forgot about that.’’

Keane admitted the final straw for him had been when there were no goalkeepers involved in an end-of-training five-a-side game.

‘‘Ask any player, any footballer, anyone in the world, anybody - at the end of training you need a little game,’’ he said.

"Their attitude was that the keepers were tired. I completely disagreed with them. Tired? Well, is that not why we are here? Explain that one to me.

‘‘We’ve done here, three hours’ work since Nigeria last Thursday. I know it’s a relaxation but we could be in for a big shock next Saturday against Cameroon.’’

The disagreement over goalkeepers ended in a shouting match between Keane and goalkeeping coach Packie Bonner and goalkeeper Alan Kelly.

‘‘Packie said they’d worked hard. Alan said they’d worked hard. I said ‘do ye want a pat on the back for working hard - is that not why you are here?’ I did mention that they wouldn’t be too tired to play golf the next day, and fair play, they dragged themselves out!

‘‘That was my stance and Kells took his stance. Few words, but I’ve had arguments like that hundreds of times.’’

Keane felt his decision to room alone had nothing to do with the decision, adding: ‘‘On the whole, I prefer rooming on my own. We do it at United, pre-season we’d be away 10, 12 days.

‘‘I know club level is different, the bonds are different but you can’t have everything. I prefer to be on my own as regards using the telephone, getting up, reading, using the bath, whatever you might want. I could do something but I accept I’m on my own.’’