Roy Maurice Keane (born in Cork, August 10 1971) is a former Irish international footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the finest midfield players of his generation, known for his inspirational leadership, and excellent tackling and distribution abilities. Roy Keane is not related to fellow Irish footballer Robbie Keane. He played for Manchester United from August 1993 to November 2005, leaving the club suddenly on November 18 2005.
Club Career
Early career
Roy Keane first played football for local Cork 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 £47,000. 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.
Manchester United
In 1993, the final season under Clough, Nottingham Forest were relegated from the Premiership. The race to sign Keane was suddenly on, with Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers vying for his signature. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson won the battle, getting Keane into Old Trafford for a then record £3.75m transfer fee. Keane was an instant success in the Manchester United midfield, taking over the mantle of midfield dynamo from Bryan Robson.
After the retirement of Eric Cantona in 1997, Keane's energy and inspirational play made him the perfect candidate to take over as club captain. During the 1997-1998 season Keane missed almost the entire campaign due to a knee injury, and, without his services, Manchester United failed to pick up a single trophy although they gained more points than the season before or after. Keane returned, however, to captain the club to an unprecedented treble in 1999 including the FA Premier League, UEFA Champions League and FA Cup. As a recognition for his efforts, Keane was voted PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2000.
Keane's total trophy haul with Manchester United includes: 7 Premiership titles (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 February 5, 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) 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.
Although he maintains a low profile off the pitch, Keane has been involved in several controversial incidents which, while not diminishing his popularity among Manchester United supporters, have attracted a great deal of criticism from many others in the game. 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 anguish in the English press as Keane booked himself in for a hip operation and thus would have missed those three matches anyway.
In 2001, Keane was heavily criticised for a tackle on Manchester City player Alf-Inge Haaland, an incident 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. Keane's anger towards Haaland dated back to a match in 1997,[1] when a tackle by Keane on Haaland left the Irishman with cruciate ligament damage, which would cause Keane to miss most of the 97/98 season. As Keane lay prone on the ground, writhing in agony and with his season over, Haaland towered over Keane, disdainfully berating him. Keane wrote in his autobiography that Haaland had accused him of feigning injury, demanding that the seriously-injured United skipper "get up"; it was then that Keane decided that he would one day get revenge on Haaland.
On Friday 18th November 2005, Keane left United after 12-and-a-half years service. Keane had said he was not expecting to get a new contract, with his current deal up at the end of the season. But he heavily criticised United one month earlier in an interview to MUTV, which was never shown, and that appears to have brought forward his departure. Keane's outburst on MUTV, which is the club's own television station, came after a 4-1 defeat to Middlesbrough in which he did not feature because he had broken his foot in a 0-0 draw against Liverpool on 18 September.
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.
He had announced that he will leave United in the summer of 2006, at the end of his current contract with Manchester United. Many people are expecting Keane to fulfill his dream of playing for Celtic when he parts ways with his club of 12years. 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 team-mates, Ferguson had gone coy over 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 left Manchester United suddenly on November 18 2005, during a protracted absence from the team due to injury. He played his last game for Manchester United in September 2005, which was a 0-0 v rivals Liverpool in which he sustained a broken foot. Keane criticised the club's pre-season trip to Portugal, branding it unprofessional. Furthermore, he had stated his belief that his contract would be the last with the club, to the surprise of the manager and chief executive, David Gill. Finally, the afore-mentioned MUTV transmission had frosted relations further still. He had lost the support of his teamates. He was subsequently stripped of the club captaincy, hastening his decision to leave. He did not immediately announce whether he intended to retire from football or to find another club.
International Career
At international level, Keane has represented his country 66 times (as of September 2005). Keane was named Ireland's player of the tournament at the
in the USA. In 2001, inspired by Keane as international captain, Ireland went undefeated against international soccer heavyweights Portugal and the Netherlands, famously knocking out the Dutch to qualify for the
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. After a team meeting at which McCarthy accused Keane of feigning injury, Keane responded by insulting McCarthy and questioning his abilities as a manager. McCarthy decided he had no option but to send Keane home - although Keane himself had first quit the squad before being talked around by Alex Ferguson. Neither during or after the meeting did any other player voice support for Keane, although it's thought that some later conferred their support to him in private. Despite efforts from both the media and prominent Irish politicians, the two were unable to come to an agreement and Keane missed out on the World Cup and declined to ever again play under Mick McCarthy.
In Ireland, the 'Saipan Incident' (as it came to be known) split the Irish public right down the middle, with one half of the nation standing by Roy Keane and the other half supporting Mick McCarthy. It was even claimed by some to be the most dramatic ideological split the country had seen since the Irish Civil War. McCarthy went on to manage Sunderland.
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 May 25, 2004 in a friendly match against Romania at Lansdowne Road. His performances in subsequent matches made him a firm favourite among fans once more, including some who had spoken of him with such venom during in 2002. He helped Ireland draw away with 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.
Mentions in popular culture
In February 2005, the comedy musical 'I, Keano' opened in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin. The show, which featured the cream of Irish comedy performers, was co-written by Father Ted writer Arthur Mathews and told the story of the Saipan Incident in the form of a Greek epic. The musical's characters included Keano (Roy Keane), General Macartacus (Mick McCarthy), Fergi the Scottish Dolphin 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).
The production was directed by the respected Irish playwright and director, Peter Sheridan (brother of Jim Sheridan).
As well as having a musical written about him, in 1997 the singer and Manchester United supporter Morrissey released a song called "Roy's Keen" about a window cleaner that is clearly a tribute to Keane given the title. The lyrics also paint a picture of the window cleaner being similar to Keane's on pitch style ("We've Never Seen A Keener Window Cleaner"). The song reached #42 in the UK singles chart and featured on the album Maladjusted.
References
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