Alf-Inge Rasdal Håland, is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder for English clubs Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City. Håland won 34 caps for Norway. Håland had a feud with Roy Keane, who he claimed would not dare look him in the eye, and once said "I really dislike United and I can't stand their players". Håland, who was already suffering with an injury to his left knee, was on the receiving end of a violent challenge from Keane during the 2000–01 Premier League season, after which he underwent surgery during the summer of 2001. He attempted to make a comeback but made limited appearances and retired in 2003. In 2011, he briefly came out of retirement to play for Rosseland.
Håland moved to England joining Premier League side Nottingham Forest after a long protracted transfer in 1993, the move was originally due to be under Brian Clough in 1992 but was completed under the management of Frank Clark. He made his debut for Forest against Leicester City.
Leeds United
In July 1997, he joined Leeds United under George Graham. He made his Leeds debut against Arsenal on 9 August 1997. In September 1997, when Manchester United were losing 1–0 to Håland's Leeds United at Elland Road, Roy Keane injured his anterior cruciate ligament running for the ball with Håland. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Håland criticised Keane and suggested that he was feigning injury to gain a penalty. Håland was booked as Keane was stretchered off the field and Keane was out of action for nearly a year afterwards. He was part of a Leeds squad who reached the UEFA Cup semi finals during the 1999–2000 season who also qualified for the Champions League, however with Haaland mainly used as a utility player, playing in both midfield and defence for David O'Leary.
Manchester City
In 2000, Håland joined Manchester City for £2.5 million. In April 2001, Roy Keane fouled Håland on his right knee, for which he was sent off. Of the incident, Håland said "I'm only glad my leg was off the ground, otherwise he would have done me a lot of damage", although some reports doubted whether it was even the worst tackle of the games played that day. Keane was fined £5,000 and received a three-match ban. In his biography, he stated that it was an act of vengeance over Håland for the criticism he received three and a half years previously. After this revelation, he found himself subject to an FA inquiry. He claimed inaccurate paraphrasing by his ghost-writer, but received an additional five-game ban, and a £150,000 fine. At the time of Keane's tackle, Håland's left knee was giving him sufficient problems for him to have to play with strapping around it. After the tackle, Håland finished the match and played a midweek friendly for Norway coming off at half-time, and the next league game, coming off in the 68th minute. That summer, he underwent surgery on his left knee, but only managed a further four substitute appearances the following season, and finally retired in July 2003 after failing to recover full fitness. Håland was originally contracted with Manchester City until the end of the 2004–05 season, but in his contract it was stated that City could terminate the contract if medical conditions indicated that he couldn't play first-team football again, and decided to use this option. Following the release of Keane's autobiography in 2002, Håland and Manchester City stated that they intended to take legal action against Keane. However, it emerged that Håland had stated on his personal website that he had been playing with the injury to his left knee a few months, that it did not receive a knock inthe game to his left leg, and that Keane did not cause his injury. Legal action was dropped in February 2003 after the club reviewed the medical advice.
