Roy Keane

Roy Maurice Keane, (born in Cork, August 10, 1971) is a former Irish footballer. He began his career at Rockmount, then made his name at Nottingham Forest before moving to Manchester United for a British record transfer fee in 1993.

Roy Keane retired from professional football on Monday June 12, 2006, after receiving medical advice on a long standing hip problem.

He is commonly held as one of the finest central midfielders to have played the game.

He was captain of the Republic of Ireland football team for a number of years, representing his country in the

and playing a major role in their qualification for the

before he was sent home after an argument with the team's manager, Mick McCarthy.

He was also captain for much of his time at Manchester United, winning the FA Premier League seven times and the FA Cup four times, and played a major role in helping the team win the UEFA Champions League in 1999.

During his time at United, Keane was widely regarded as one of the finest midfield players of his generation, known for his inspirational leadership, excellent tackling and distribution abilities. Manager Alex Ferguson regards him as his best player ever during his 20-year reign at Manchester United. . Keane has captained United to 9 major honours making him Manchester United's most successsful skipper. Additionally, ex-player and BBC pundit Alan Hansen is of the opinion that Keane is the best player to have played in the Premier League since its inception in 1992. Although Keane attracted praise as a player, he also had disciplinary problems, notably being suspended twice for the same foul on Alf Inge Haaland after admitting that the foul was deliberate in his autobiography.

He is not related to fellow Irish footballer Robbie Keane.

Club Career

Nottingham Forest

Roy Keane first played football for local Cork City club Rockmount, before signing for the semi-professional Irish club Cobh Ramblers in 1989.

Scouts from Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest took note of his talents and promptly signed him for the sum of £20,000. Keane was quick to impress at Nottingham Forest, making his professional league debut against Liverpool.

In 1991, Keane was a regular in the side, displacing the English international midfield player Steve Hodge, and scored three goals during a run to that season's FA Cup final, which Forest ultimately lost to Tottenham Hotspur.

A year later Keane returned to Wembley with Forest for the League Cup final but again finished on the losing side as Manchester United gained a 1-0 win.

Many say if it wasn't for Forest, Roy Keane may have never made it to the big time had Brian Clough not signed him as a pro, as he went from semi-pro to one of the most sucesssful players in English football.

Manchester United

Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers competed to sign Keane after Nottingham Forest's relegation in 1993. Manchester United were successful, signing Keane for a then-record £3.75m transfer fee. Keane immediately went into the first team, playing in centre-midfield alongside Paul Ince.

After the retirement of Eric Cantona in 1997, Keane became team captain, although he missed most of the 1997/1998 season because of a cruciate-ligament injury, caused by an ill-timed challenge on Leeds United player Alf Inge Haaland. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Haaland stood over Keane, accusing him of feigning injury. United were top of the league at the time, but their form dropped and they finished the season without a trophy.

Keane returned, however, to captain the club to an unprecedented treble in 1999 including the FA Premier League, UEFA Champions League and FA Cup, including an inspirational display to haul his team back from two goals down during the second-legged semi-final against Juventus. In this match, Keane received a yellow card that ruled him out of the final yet he played on as valiant as ever and got his team through. As a recognition for his efforts, Keane was voted PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2000. Keane would go on to captain United to 9 major honours, making him the most successful captain in the club's illustrious history.

In 2001, Keane played against Alf-Inge Haaland for the first time since their clash in 1998, and was sent off for a foul which left Haaland with a serious injury. He subsequently admitted in an autobiography that he intended "to hurt" Haaland.

Although Haaland retired from football shortly afterwards, he had previously stated on his website that the cause of this was a recurring problem in his leg, rather than Keane's tackle. Keane was banned for five matches and fined £150,000.

Although he maintains a low profile off the pitch, Keane was involved in several controversial incidents while at Manchester United. In 1995, he was sent off from an FA Cup semi-final for stamping on Gareth Southgate, for which he was suspended for three matches and fined £5,000.

In August 2002 he was fined two weeks' wages, £150,000, and suspended for three matches for elbowing Jason McAteer. This caused much controversy in the English press as Keane booked himself in for a hip operation and thus would have missed those three matches anyway.

Keane's trophy haul with Manchester United includes: 8 Premiership titles (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003), 4 FA Cups (1994, 1996, 1999, 2004), a European Cup (1999 - though Keane missed the final through suspension) and an Intercontinental Cup (1999).

On 5 February, 2005, Keane scored his 50th goal for Manchester United in a league game against Birmingham City. His appearance in the 2005 FA Cup final (which United lost to Arsenal in a penalty shoot out) was his seventh such game, an all-time record. Keane was also picked on the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest living footballers picked by Pelé.

Keane was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his undoubted impact on the English league.

Leaving Manchester United

Most recently, his criticism of several of his fellow Manchester United players after an abject 4 – 1 defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough was deemed too damning and was subsequently pulled from transmission on United's own TV station, MUTV.

Keane is thought to have blasted Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea, Alan Smith, Kieran Richardson and, perhaps most notably, Darren Fletcher. Keane was widely supported by Manchester United fans after the outbursts.

He had announced that he would leave United in the summer of 2006, at the end of his contract with Manchester United. Many people were expecting Keane to fulfill his dream of playing for Celtic when he parted ways with his club of 12 years. He is already training for his UEFA coaching badges.

His then-manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, had said that he wanted Keane to succeed him as manager when he retires. However, in the wake of Keane's tirade against his own teammates, Ferguson became evasive regarding Keane's prospects as a manager. In November 2005, Ferguson said "young managers come along and people say this one will be England manager or boss of this club, but two years later they're not there. It's not an easy environment to come into, I wouldn't forecast anything."

Keane unexpectedly left Manchester United on 18 November, 2005, during a protracted absence from the team due to injury. He played his last competitive game for Manchester United in September 2005, which was a 0-0 against rivals Liverpool in which he sustained a broken foot after a challenge with Luis Garcia.

Keane criticised the club's pre-season trip to Portugal, branding it unprofessional — which triggered an argument with assistant coach and one-time Real Madrid manager, Carlos Queiroz. He had already stated his belief that his contract would be the last with the club and the aforementioned MUTV transmission had frosted relations still further. There had also been rumours of Ferguson threatening to strip him of club captaincy for refusing to apologise for his MUTV outburst, although some of the players concerned had publicly backed him afterwards.

Manchester United reached an agreement with Roy Keane allowing him to leave the club immediately, and offered him a testimonial in recognition of his 12½ years at Old Trafford. The club also thanked him for his major contribution as a player.

On 30 March 2006, it was announced by Manchester United that Keane's testimonial was to take place on 9 May 2006 and the game would be against Celtic. Manchester United won the testimonial, 1-0, with the only goal in the game scored by Cristiano Ronaldo. Keane played the second half in his former role as Manchester United captain. The game attracted the largest crowd ever for a testimonial match in England.

Celtic FC

On 14 December, the BBC reported that Keane would sign with Celtic, after agreeing to sign a contract in the region of £40,000 per week, and he officially became a Celtic player the following day. The BBC were on agency who reported that they believed his earnings were in the region of £40,000 per week ^[1], however Celtic manager Gordon Strachan revealed the player did not want to become an exception to the clubs £25,000 per week wage cap. Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwall confirmed in the same BBC report that Dermot Desmond would not require to provide any additional funding to the club for the transfer.

Keane's Celtic F.C. career began in ignominious fashion as the Glasgow giants crashed to a 2-1 defeat to lowly Clyde F.C. in the Scottish Cup third round on 8 January 2006. Keane scored his first Celtic F.C. goal a month later in a 2-1 Scottish league victory over Falkirk F.C..

The following Sunday he retained his place and played in his first Old Firm game, being accorded the man-of-the-match title as the game's best player. Celtic won the game, Maciej Zurawski having scored the only goal. Keane went on on to win the Scottish Premier League title and Scottish League Cup with Celtic in his debut season for the club.

Although, Celtic's move to bring in Keane had been criticized in the beginning, he proved himself as a vital member of the midfield with his superior tackling and skilled distribution of the ball.

On the 12 June, 2006, Roy Keane announced his retirement from professional football on medical advice.

Club Honours

• English FA Premier League champion 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 with Manchester United
• English FA Cup winner 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004 with Manchester United
• UEFA Champions League winner 1999 with Manchester United
• Intercontinental Cup winner 1999 with Manchester United
• Scottish Premier League champion 2006 with Celtic FC
• Scottish League Cup winner 2006 with Celtic FC

International Career

At international level, Keane represented his country 66 times. Keane was named Ireland's player of the tournament at the

in the USA, when Ireland famously beat tournament favourites and eventual finalists, Italy, before losing to the the Netherlands in the second round.

Keane missed crucial matches during the France 1998 qualification matches due to a severe knee injury, but came back to captain the team to within a whisker of qualifying for Euro 2000.

Eventually, in 2001, with Roy Keane putting in Man of the Match performances, Ireland went undefeated against international soccer heavyweights Portugal and the Netherlands, famously knocking out the Dutch to qualify for the

in Korea and Japan.

Dutch manager Louis van Gaal was so impressed by Keane's performances that he nominated the Corkman for FIFA World Player of the Year.

The Saipan Incident

During the summer of 2002, at a pre-World Cup training camp in Saipan, Keane and Ireland manager Mick McCarthy had a disagreement about the FAI preparations for the World Cup. Keane's dissatisfaction with the Irish preparations first came to light in an interview with Irish Times journalist Tom Humphries.

Keane later alleged in his autobiography that he felt the Irish fans were "mocked" by the "lax attitude" the FAI took towards the preparations. After a team meeting at which McCarthy accused Keane of feigning injury, Keane is thought to have responded by insulting McCarthy and questioning his abilities as a manager, although Keane denied this in his autobiography.

McCarthy decided he had no option but to send Keane home - although Keane himself had first quit the squad before being talked around by various trusted friends. Neither during nor after the meeting did any other player voice support for Keane, although it is thought that some later expressed their support to him in private: Keane mentions in his autobiography both Gary Breen and David Connolly as having done so in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Despite efforts from both the media and prominent Irish politicians, Keane and McCarthy were unable to resolve the matter, and Keane missed out on the World Cup, where Ireland reached the second round with some strong performances. He stated that he would not play again for the Republic of Ireland under Mick McCarthy.

The appointment of Brian Kerr as Ireland manager in 2003 eventually led to the controversial return of Keane in the international arena in 2004. He made his International return on 25 May, 2004, in a friendly match against Romania at Lansdowne Road.

His performances in subsequent matches made him a firm favourite among some fans once more. He helped Ireland draw away against France and Switzerland in their 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.

On 14 October, 2005, following Ireland's failure to qualify for the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006, Keane announced his retirement from international football. On 12 June, 2006 Keane announced his retirement from club football therefore ending his career in football.

Mentions in popular culture

The Irish playwright Colin Teevan has written a series of works entitled The Roy Keaneiad which place Keane in the role of Achilles from Greek Mythology.

The most recent of these was broadcast on BBC Radio Three at the end of November, 2005.

Also, the comedy musical I, Keano opened in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin in February 2005. The show, which featured the cream of Irish comedy performers, was co-written by Father Ted writer Arthur Mathews, Michael Nugent and Paul Woodfull. It told the story of the Saipan Incident in the form of a Greek epic.

The musical's characters included Keano (Roy Keane), Army (Paul Armstrong) General Macartacus (Mick McCarthy), Fergi the Hairdryer God (Alex Ferguson) and tap-dancing wood nymph Dunphia (Eamon Dunphy, the Irish broadcaster who, at the time of the Saipan Incident, led the pro-Roy Keane front, and later was the ghostwriter for Keane's explosive autobiography). I Keano made its UK debute at The Lowry in February 2006.

The 2005 production was directed by the respected Irish playwright and director, Peter Sheridan (brother of Jim Sheridan).

References

• Hildred, Stafford; Ewbank, Tim (2000). Roy Keane: Captain Fantastic. Blake Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1857824369.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Hildred, Stafford; Ewband, Tim (2002). Roy Keane: The Biography. Blake Publishing. ISBN 1904034594.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Howard, Paul; Dunphy, Eamon (2002). The Gaffers: Mick McCarthy, Roy Keane and the Team They Built. The O Brien Press Ltd. ISBN 0862787815.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Keane, Roy; Dunphy, Eamon (2002). Keane: The Autobiography. Michael Josephb. ISBN 0718145542.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• O'Callaghan, Conor (2004). Red Mist: Roy Keane and the Football Civil War - A Fan's Notes. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747570140.
• Unknown Fan (2002). The Little Book of Roy Keane. New Island Books. ISBN 1904301169.
• Trevor Durning (2002). The Boy Roy is a turncoat. New Ireland Books. ISBN 1904301170.

See also

• List of people on stamps of Ireland

External links

• Career photos on BBC Online
• English Football Hall of Fame Profile
• Roy Keane leaves Manchester United
• Roy Keane and the Old Trafford Legacy
• I Keano UK Debut review

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