Roy Keane biography: Irish Footballer

Roy Keane biography

Irish football player and Manager

Soccer player

Club App (Gls)*
Cobh Ramblers
Nottingham Forest 114 (22)
Manchester United 326 (33)
Celtic 10 (1)
450 (56)

National team
1991–2005 Republic of Ireland 66 0(9)

Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971, Cork, Ireland) is an Irish former professional footballer and a manager.

During his playing career Keane was known as one of the greatest to grace the game. He played, notably, for Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Glasgow Celtic during a sixteen year career. During his time at Manchester United, the club achieved unprecedented success and Keane was the captain of the club from 1997 until his departure in 2005.

He played internationally for the Republic of Ireland, and was captain.

During his first season as Sunderland manager, he took the club from second from last to top of the table. Derby County's defeat to Crystal Palace on April 29, 2007 confirms Sunderland A.F.C.'s promotion to the Premiership.

Club Career

Cobh Ramblers
Roy Keane first played football for local Cork City club Rockmount, before signing for the semi pro club Cobh Ramblers. Playing for Ramblers he was mostly a striker but used to play midfield for the U-21's. It was Ramblers' youth team manager of the time, Eddie O'Rourke, persuaded the Mayfield man to leave the Rockmount team in 1989 and join up with Ramblers.

Roy was one of two Ramblers representatives in the inaugural FAI/FAS scheme in Dublin and it was here he got his first taste of full time training. At the time Roy played for Ramblers' youths' side as well as lining out for the League of Ireland side, often playing twice in the same weekend.

In the tough, physical world of the First Division of the League of Ireland, Roy held his own, his dedication to training noticed by many. It was a mistake in an FAI Youths Cup game by a Ramblers player against Belvedere Boys of Dublin which necessitated a replay in Dublin. The replay was lost 0 - 4. It was the performance of Roy Keane which attracted attention of a Nottingham Forest scout who recommended him to travel for a trial.

Roy suitably impressed the legendary Brian Clough and his staff and in the end a deal worth £47,000 was struck between the two clubs.

Nottingham Forest
In 1989 scouts from Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest took note of his talents and signed him for the sum of £47,000. Keane was quick to impress at Nottingham Forest, making his pro league debut against Liverpool.

By 1991, Keane was a regular in the side, displacing the English international 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
Man 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.

Although he maintains a low profile off the pitch, Keane was involved in numerous controversial incidents while at Man United, earning 11 red cards in the process. 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.

After the retirement of Éric 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, but their form dropped and finished the season without a trophy.

Keane returned to captain the club to an unprecedented treble in 1999 of the FA Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League. One of his finest performances was an inspirational display to help haul his team back from two goals down to win 3 – 2 during the semi final second-leg against Juventus, scoring a header to start United's comeback. Earlier in the match Keane received a yellow card to ruled him out of the final after a trip on Zinedine Zidane. United defeated Bayern Munich at Nou Camp 2-1 to win the Champions League, scoring twice in injury time after trailing one nil for most of the match. Keane received a winner's medal though he said he has not looked at it. That year, Keane was named Man of the Match in the finals of the Intercontinental Cup, scoring the only goal of the game as United defeated Palmeiras. As a recognition for his efforts, Keane was voted PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2000.

Keane hit out at sections of United supporters after Man Utd's clash with Dynamo Kiev, at Old Trafford, in the Champions League, 2000. He criticised supporters for booing and jeering the team during the match and accused them of being the Prawn Sandwich Brigade.

In 2001, Keane played against Alf-Inge Haaland for the first time since their clash in 1998, and was sent off for a blatant knee-high foul on Haaland. He initially received a three game suspension. Keane subsequently admitted in an autobiography that he intended to hurt Haaland, which saw him banned for a further five matches and fined £150,000. Haaland retired from football shortly afterwards, stating on his website the cause of this was a recurring problem in his leg, rather than an injury resulting from Keane's tackle.

In 2001-2002, Manchester United finished the season trophyless. Domestically, they were eliminated in the FA Cup by Middlesbrough in the fourth round, and finishing third in the Premiership. They made the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League, their furthest advance since 1999 but they were knocked out by Bayer Leverkusen. After their defeat to Leverkusen, Keane blamed United's loss of form on the players’ Rolexes, the fleets of cars, the multi-millions, and told them they had lost their hunger. (Keane in particular was supposedly to have targeted one of the England players, Wes Brown, or Nicky Butt amongst others.) Earlier in the season, Keane publicly advocated the breakup of The Treble winning team as he believed that his team mates, who played in United's victorious 1999 Champions League final, no longer had a motivation to work as hard.

In August 2002 he was fined two weeks' wages, £150,000, and suspended for three matches for elbowing Sunderland's 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.

In the 2000s, Keane maintained a healthy rivalry with Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira. The most notable incident was at Highbury in 2005, at the height of an extreme period of bad blood between United and Arsenal, where Vieira was taunting Keane's teammate Gary Neville. Keane afterwards criticised Viera's decision to play internationally for France instead of his birthplace of Senegal.

On 5 February 2005, Keane scored a 50th goal for Man 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.

Overall, Keane lead United to 9 major honours, making him the most successful captain in the club's history. Keane's trophy haul with Manchester United includes: 7 Premiership titles, 4 FA Cups, a European Cup, and an Intercontinental Cup.

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

Keane was also picked on the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest living footballers picked by Pelé.

Departure from Manchester United
Keane unexpectedly left Manchester United on 18 November 2005, during a protracted absence from the team due to injury. He played a last competitive game for Man 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. Keane is also thought to have blasted Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea, Alan Smith, Kieran Richardson and, perhaps most notably, Darren Fletcher. The criticism of his fellow players, after an abject 4 – 1 defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough, was deemed too damning by United Management, and was subsequently pulled from transmission by the club's TV station, MUTV. Keane's outburst was supported by some Manchester United fans, though it received sterner criticism from fans of other clubs, and media pundits.

Keane 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. He had announced he would leave Utd in the summer of 2006, at the end of his contract with Man United. Many people were expecting Keane to fulfill his boyhood dream of playing in Celtic when he parted ways with his club of 12 years.

His then manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, had said he wanted Keane to succeed him as manager when he retired. In the wake of Keane's public criticism of his own team mates, Ferguson became evasive regarding Keane's prospects as a manager.

Man United reached an agreement with Keane allowing him to leave the club immediately, and offered him a testimonial in recognition of his twelve and a half years at Old Trafford, where the club thanked him for his major contribution as a player and captain. 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. Man United won the testimonial, 1-0, with the only goal in the game scored by Cristiano Ronaldo. Keane played the first half with Celtic and the second half in his former role as Manchester United captain. The game attracted the largest crowd ever for a testimonial match in England (69,591). Roy Keane's long running favourite charity cause, providing Guide Dogs for the Blind, benefited considerably from the event.

Celtic
On 14 December 2005, 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 was one agency who reported that they believed his earnings were in the region of £40,000 per week, 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 Lawall confirmed in the same BBC report Dermot Desmond would not be required to provide any additional funding to the club for the transfer.

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

The following Sunday he retained his place and played in his first Old Firm game. Celtic won the match and Keane was accorded the Man of the Match award as the best player. Celtic went on to complete the double of the SPL and Scottish League Cup.

On 12 June, 2006, Roy Keane announced his retirement from professional football on medical advice, only six months after joining Celtic.

Club honours
19 club trophies as a player

Manchester United

FA Premier League - 7
1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
FA Cup - 4
1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
FA Community Shield/Charity Shield - 4
1993, 1996, 1997, 2003
UEFA Champions League - 1
1999
Intercontinental Cup - 1
1999

Celtic

Scottish Premier League - 1
2006
Scottish League Cup - 1
2006

1 club trophy as a manager

Sunderland AFC

Football League Championship: 1
2007

International career
At international level, Keane represented his nation 66 times. Keane was named Ireland's player of the tournament in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA, when Ireland famously beat tournament favourites and eventual finalists, Italy 1-0, before losing to Holland 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 a whisker of qualifying for Euro 2000.

In 2001, with Roy Keane putting in numerous Man of the Match performances, Ireland went undefeated, both home and away, against international soccer heavyweights Portugal and the Netherlands, famously knocking out the Dutch to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan. Dutch manager Louis van Gaal was so impressed by Keane's performances he nominated the Corkman for FIFA World Player of the Year.

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

Roy Keane Saipan Incident
During the summer of 2002, the Irish football panel were sent to Pacific island of Saipan in preparation for the World Cup.

In the course of a first pitch training session Keane expressed serious misgivings about adequacy of training facilities and standard of preparations for the Irish team. Keane took the view that players were actively discouraged from preparing sufficiently for a competitive tournament, and with insufficient account being taken of the role of training or diet in maximising Ireland's performance in particular. It was on this occasion a public bust up occurred between Keane, and team management. Keane then sensationally announced he was going home, and was having no further part in the World Cup. Mick McCarthy approached Keane and asked him to return to the training camp. Certain promises were given, and Keane returned to the team.

Keane gave an interview to leading sports journalist Tom Humphries, of the Irish broadsheet daily newspaper the Irish Times where he listed the events and concerns which had led him to decide to leave the team. Mick McCarthy took offence to Keane's interview and he decided to confront Keane over the article. Keane refused to relent, as he had told the newspaper, what he considered to be the truth.

In a team meeting McCarthy confronted Keane. None of Keane's team mates voiced support for him during the meeting, though some later expressed support to him privately. Roy Keane was dismissed from the squad and sent home. This created considerable controversy back in Ireland, as it struck many resonances other scandals and controversies, in recent Irish history.

Managerial career
Keane always indicated his desire to become a manager. He has stated that he'd like to first start at a lower league club, and hopefully one day become manager of Manchester United. He was training for his UEFA coaching badges after he retired from playing.

On August 23, 2006, rumours became rampant Keane was close to taking a managerial vacancy at Sunderland AFC. Sunderland's chairman Niall Quinn, who was also serving as acting manager at the time, is a former Republic of Ireland teammate of Roy Keane. Four days later, Keane was introduced to the Sunderland players at the club's Academy of Light training ground in anticipation of his appointment as manager. It was later announced he had agreed terms to take over as Sunderland manager on a three year contract rumoured to be worth £2 million a year.

Rumours were widespread that he was to be assisted by ex Manchester United assistant manager Brian Kidd, however Bobby Saxton, Peter Reid's former deputy at the club who was brought back by Quinn in July, remained in that position for several months.

Keane signed his new three year contract, variously reported as being worth £2,000,000 or £3,000,000 per year, straight after the 28 August 2006 Sunderland victory against West Brom. He was presented to the media at a press conference on 29 August 2006 by club chairman Niall Quinn. The two former Republic of Ireland teammates had their disputes in the recent past (Keane described Quinn as a "muppet", among other descriptions, in his autobiography), but all seemed forgiven at the press briefing with no recriminations on show.

Keane wasted no time in bring in new additions to the squad, with a total of 6 players signing on the final day of the August transfer window. Incoming were Keane's former Manchester United team-mates Dwight Yorke and Liam Miller, former Celtic colleagues Ross Wallace and Stanislav Varga, with the latter playing for Sunderland between July 2000 and January 2002, as well as Wigan Athletic pair Graham Kavanagh and David Connolly. Five further players were signed during the January 2007 transfer window, three (Anthony Stokes, Carlos Edwards and Stern John) on permanent contracts and two (Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson) on loan from Man United, Keane's old club.

Keane's first two managerial games could not have gone much better, coming from behind to beat Derby County 2-1 and then beating Leeds United 3-0.

After sitting second-from-bottom of the Championship on the day Keane took over, having lost all but one of their games up to that point, Sunderland's revival under the Irishman continued into 2007. He was nominated for "Manager of the Month" for January and was voted "Manager of the Month" for February and March. And on April 29 Keane's first season as manager has successfully guided Sunderland to promotion for season 2007-08 FA Premier League, after Derby County suffered a loss to Crystal Palace.

Off-the-pitch, too, Keane's shadow is casting light over the whole city. In October 2006, just six weeks after arriving in the city, the City of Sunderland Tourism Office recorded a dramatic rise in the number of tourists to the area, many from the Republic of Ireland itself. Indeed, airline Ryanair announced a 10% rise in passenger numbers on planes to Newcastle Airport on Fridays preceding a Sunderland home match. This has led, according to the Tourist Office, to a knock on effect with Irish tourists exploring the city further outside the parameters of its football team, and "making a weekend of it" in Sunderland.

Keane has reiterated his displeasure with the attitude and selection policy of the FAI. In March 2007 Keane claimed several Republic of Ireland players get picked solely based on their media exposure. Keane claimed Sunderland player Liam Miller was not picked because he was from Cork and players with significant potential were failing to get picked for the national team. He also alleged that the FAI were incompetent in the running of their affairs.

On 29th April Sunderland AFC were promoted to the Premiership, along with Birmingham City, after Derby County failed to win against Crystal Palace.

On the 06th May, Sunderland A.F.C won the championship after Birmingham lost to Preston 1-0

Popular culture

I, Keano
The comedy musical I, Keano was co-written by Father Ted writer Arthur Mathews, Michael Nugent and Paul Woodfull. It tells the story of the Saipan Incident at the 2002 World Cup, in which Keane was sent home by Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, in the form of a mock epic melodrama about an ancient Roman legion preparing for war.

The musical's characters include Keano (Roy Keane), General Macartacus (Mick McCarthy), Fergi the Hairdryer God (Alex Ferguson), Quinness (Niall Quinn), Army (Paul Armstrong), Packie Bonnerus (Packie Bonner), 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 opened in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin in February 2005, featuring a cream of Irish comedy performers, and directed by the respected Irish playwright and director, Peter Sheridan (brother of Jim Sheridan). It made its UK debut at The Lowry in February 2006. It started its third year of performances in January 2007.

The Roykeaniad
The comedy verse monologues The Roykeaneiad Parts 1 and 2 were written by Irish born playwright, Colin Teevan. They are spoken in the work by a Irish drunk, bitter about Keane's actions in the Saipan Incident. Teevan explores the parallels in story between Keane's confrontation and that of King Agamemnon and Achilles before the walls of Troy. This vivid narration of Keane plays with comic fire as it delves into the absurd extremes of male anger and its dangerous consequences.

In 2005 the veteran Royal Shakespeare Company actor Greg Hicks performed The Roykeaneiad at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as part of a series of monologues by Teevan called Missing Persons - Four Tragedies and Roy Keane.

Other references
In his album Maladjusted, singer Morrissey alludes to Keane on the song "Roy's Keen".

Keane is often impersonated in the Gift Grub segment of the Ian Dempsey breakfast show on Today FM Ireland by Mario Rosenstock, who has also played Keane in the comedy musical I, Keano.

During the Saipan Incident, numerous T-shirts were printed in Keane's native Cork city, showing Keane as a local hero, and national inspiration. T-shirts were also printed describing similarities with another Irish leader, of a previous era Michael Collins and a sense of betrayal felt by Keane's supporters by other Irish people.

Roy Keane's biography is still available on the shelves of a majority of large Irish bookstores.

Music group
Quotes
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. (From his autobiography, Keane.)
Happiness is not being afraid.(From his autobiography, Keane.)
The only thing that goes with the flow is a dead fish.
Niall Quinn observed in his autobiography that Roy Keane's 10-minute oration [against Mick McCarthy, excerpted above] ... was clinical, fierce, earth-shattering to the person on the end of it and it ultimately caused a huge controversy in Irish society.

Misspell

Keano Kane Kene

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