In comments that will provoke splutterings of consternation at Old Trafford, Roy Keane has condemned some of his fellow managers as “hypocrites” for demanding that players show greater deference to officials. While the Sunderland manager did not identify Sir Alex Ferguson, few at Manchester United will question the target of their former captain's ire.

In response to some recent high-profile incidents and the FA's Respect the Referee initiative, Ferguson said last weekend that “the haranguing of referees is absolutely ridiculous - we know that. It's not right. Since the situation with Andy D'Urso, we've not done anything like that.” In January 2000, a furious Keane led a posse of United players in pursuing D'Urso.

The Irishman regrets that infamous episode - described as “a pivotal moment” by Ferguson - and since his move into the dugout, he has consistently shown restraint on the touchline. While he has been critical of officials after matches, asking whether “it's more than coincidence” that Sunderland have been the victim of poor decisions, he has been courteous in public.

Not all of his peers - including Ferguson - can make a similar claim and Keane's response yesterday was withering. “There's a lot of hypocrites out there in football,” he said. “You hear other managers - and I'm talking big managers - talking about respecting referees, but the same managers have been sent off for [using] foul and abusive language. Makes me sick, some of them.”

Ferguson and Martin O'Neill, the Aston Villa manager, have been sent to the stands this season. The Scot was dismissed at half-time during United's 1-0 defeat away to Bolton Wanderers on November 24 after confronting Mark Clattenburg, the referee. “I told him how bad he was and he didn't like it,” Ferguson said at the time.

In the week of his appointment on Wearside, Keane informed his backroom staff that showing dissent to officials would not be tolerated, a message he has also delivered to the Sunderland youth team. Rather than heap further opprobrium on Ashley Cole and Javier Mascherano for their behaviour, Keane believes an example should be set.

“A lot of it comes down to the managers and how they behave,” he said. “You watch and sometimes it's not them, but their staff, which is worse because the managers are letting their staff carry on that way. There's one club in particular which is a disgrace, an absolute disgrace.” Keane refused to confirm whether this was a reference to Reading.

Keane was asked if his “hypocrite” comment was aimed at Ferguson. “Was he sent off against Bolton this year, at Bolton at half-time? I don't know, you tell me,” he said. “We're all bad losers, but if we're going to be coming out and saying, 'Let's respect officials and make sure the players do', and you're not doing it, how can you expect the players to do it?”

This month, Ferguson blamed Martin Atkinson, the referee, for contributing to United's home defeat by Portsmouth in the sixth round of the FA Cup. “It surprised me and he wasn't the only one,” Keane said. “Carlos Queiroz [the United assistant manager], I think Cristiano Ronaldo came out. Man United always taught me to be gracious losers. They weren't that day.”

Despite working together for 12 years, Keane's relationship with Ferguson has never been intimate; whether his outburst will assist Sunderland's cause in securing the permanent transfer of Jonny Evans from United is debatable.

Keane was equally abrasive about the media profile of some former players. “Mascherano and Cole were out of order, they've apologised, but then you get ex-players coming out of their holes and being offered a grand to slag someone off,” he said. “They're all hypocrites. Half of these people, they cheated on their wives and yet they're slagging players off. Idiots, absolute idiots.”