I’ve recently decided to try something new with my blog posts. I’ve been a passionate football fan for almost 2 decades now, and I’ve seen several of my favorite player come and go over this period.
Withi this in mind, I’ve always found it fascinating how the stories of guys who kick a ball for a living can resonate with me. Nonetheless, I always seem to find motivation in the rise and fall of successful players.
For this reason, I thought it might be a great idea to create video essays on the most iconic players that I’ve witnessed, as well as notable events within the football world. To kick of this series, I thought there are very few players as iconic as Roy Keane.
The full transcript of this video essay, as well as the sources for the information and visuals used can be found at the bottom of this article.
Humble Irish beginnings
Originally from Ireland, Roy Keane was born into a working-class family in 1971. He joined his first youth club, Rockmount, at the age of 10. Even back then, he was known as a promising, energetic young player.
During his early years, he was smaller than most boys his age, but nonetheless, got into the odd school fight. Due to his size, these fights rarely ended well for him.
Keane’s response to this treatment was joining a local boxing gym. And he was actually quite good, winning all the competitive matches he partook in.
This was probably one of the first signs of his intense fighting spirit. To quote a family friend of Keane’s that knew him during his schoolboy years,
“What you have to understand about Roy, is that in those early days he had to try harder than anyone else to make up for what some felt was a lack of physical presence. That determination has never left him.”
Despite his early success in boxing, football was his true love. He would later stop boxing altogether to pursue football professionally.
From Ireland to England
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter playing for Rockmount for roughly 9 years, Keane went on to join another local Irish team Cobh Ramblers in 1989.
However, he had his mind set on playing football in England, and so applied to as many English clubs as he could.
According to his former manager at Cobh Ramblers, Keane wrote to a staggering 92 different English clubs requesting a trial.
The only club that responded was Nottingham Forrest.
After a successful trial, Keane would transfer to Nottingham Forrest for a fee of £47,000 in 1990 (roughly £108,000.00 in today’s currency).
Road to glory
At Nottingham Forrest he only went from strength to strength, making 114 appearance for them during the 3-year period that he played at City Ground Stadium.
He even showed his eye for goal, scoring 22 goals in that period as a box to box midfielder.
Now, at the time of signing for Nottingham, Keane was already known as being a tireless runner and possessing great technique.
However, it was here that Keane truly began to develop into the gritty, no nonsense, box to box midfielder that we’re all familiar with.
To give you an idea of the environment that he was playing in, Keane has previously stated that he was once punched in the face by his coach at the time, Brian Clough, after making a mistake that led to a goal.
However, he was too grateful for the opportunity that Brian Clough and Nottingham Forrest had given him to play in England to bear any ill will towards him.
Awaken the Red Devil
After an array of stellar performances, Keane began attracting some serious interest from several of the top teams in the world.
Reportedly, interested clubs included Barcelona, Real Madrid and Blackburn Rovers, to name a few. However, as we all know, Manchester united ended up signing the Irishman for £3.75 million in 1993.
A British transfer record at the time. That translates to roughly £8.6 milllion in today’s currency.
Embed from Getty ImagesAt the time that he moved, United had just won the league title, with players such as Eric Cantona, Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Bryan Robson being very well established.
However, various injuries to the then 36-year-old Bryan Robson meant that Keane got ample playing time in his first season with the club.
He quickly repaid the faith that United had in him by helping them to their 2nd ever Premier League title in 1994.
Over the next 3 years, more success came his way, as United picked up 2 more Premier League titles and Keane firmly established himself at the leader in United’s midfield
Manchester United captaincy
In 1997, Keane took on the role of Manchester United Captain, after Eric Cantona announced his retirement.
For some players, being handed the captaincy is too much of a burden on them, and it can often lead to them buckling under the pressure and losing their form.
This clearly was not the case for Roy Keane. His fierce competitive streak and aggression were as intense as ever.
Unfortunately, shortly after receiving the captaincy, keen was side-lined due to an untimely cruciate ligament injury in a match between Manchester united and Leeds United.
Keane received the injury after attempting a tackle on Alf-Inge Håland. To add insult to injury, Håland even believed that Keane was feigning his injury and berated him while he was rolling on the floor in pain.
Just a side note for you all to remember this moment for later, as the story between Keane and Håland does not end here.
Keane was out for the remainder of the 1997/98 season, where United missed out on the title at the hands of Arsenal.
However, he was back in action, just in time for the 98/99 season.
And his timing couldn’t have been better, as this was the most successful singular season in the history of Manchester United, even to this day.
United were in fine form this season, with consistently eye-catching performances from each player. And it shouldn’t surprise you that Keane played a starring role.
Roy Keane’s finest hour
Embed from Getty ImagesOne of the standout fixtures of this season for United came against Juventus in the Champions League semi-final 2nd leg. After a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in the first leg, United travelled to Italy for the reverse fixture.
Unfortunately, the first 11 minutes could not have gone worse for the English side, as Juventus quickly took a 2-0 lead.
What followed from Roy Keane was, in my opinion, probably one of the greatest individual performances of all time and certainly the best performance of Roy Keane’s entire career.
With a true captain’s contribution, Keane scored the first of 3 goals for united that would secure a 3-2 win over Juventus and earned a man of the match award in the process.
Apart from the goal, Keane’s tireless running, leadership and overall intensity was cited as the main reason for the comeback.
Adding on to this, Keane massively outperformed a star studded Juventus midfield, which consisted of players such as Edgar Davids, Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane. The latter of which was the holder of the Ballon d’or at the time.
Sir Alex Ferguson was quick to heap praise on Keane for this performance stating “it was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have ever seen on a football field”.
Ferguson even went further to say he believed Keane “would rather die of exhaustion, than lose”.
Sadly, Keane received a yellow card for a foul on Zidane in this match, which ruled him out for the final
Nonetheless, United went on to win the Champions league against Bayern Munich in the final. This completed a famous treble, which included the Champions League, the FA cup and the Premier League. To this day, Manchester united are still the only English club to ever achieve this.
Keane’s performance throughout the 1998/1999 season earned him a 5th place finish in the Ballon d’or rankings for year of 1999.
In the years following the treble victory, United continued their success, winning 2 more premier league titles in the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 seasons, with Keane continuing his captaincy.
Håland controversy
Embed from Getty ImagesThe 2000/2001 season would see Keane involved in a bit of controversy. In a match between Manchester United and Manchester City, Keane would go on to commit a horrendous tackle on a player that would earn him a straight red card and a combined 8 game ban.
The player that he committed the foul on? None other than Alf-Inge Håland.
Several people suggested that Keane did this out of revenge. This suspicion was only confirmed 3 years later, after the release of his autobiography in 2003. In his book, he essentially admitted to kicking out at Håland on purpose
Shortly after receiving this injury, Alf-Inge Håland retired. This fuelled rumours that Håland retired due to the Keane tackle. However, this rumour was debunked after it had been revealed that Håland had been carrying the injury that caused his retirement for several months before the tackle and that the Keane tackle did not actually affect it in any way.
Career backend
Fast forward to the preseason camp before the 2005/5006 season, and tensions between Ferguson and Keane began to rise. The two reportedly clashed over the quality of training sessions, as well as the coaching methods of the then assistant manager Carlos Quiroz
After 12 and a half years with united and a rather public falling out with Sir Alex Ferguson, Keane ended up leaving the club and transferring to Celtic in November 2005.
However, he would only go on to spend half a season at the club and announce his retirement on the 12th of June 2006.
In his illustrious career, Kean won dozens upon dozens of awards. However, the most notable were undoubtedly 7 Premier League titles, 4 FA cups and a Champions League titles. Not too shabby
Retirement
Following from this, Keane went straight into management. Over the years, he has coached a wide variety of teams such as Sunderland and Ipswich Town. As well as assistant manager roles for the republic of Ireland, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forrest.
Unfortunately for Keane, he wasn’t be able to recapture the sort of success that he enjoyed on the pitch as player in his managerial career.
However, fortunately for him, and for us, might I add, he has quickly become one of the best additions to the sky sports punditry team.
Embed from Getty ImagesSeeing his reactions to players that aren’t 100% committed will always be hilarious.
Closing thoughts
Roy Keane’s story is as inspirational as they come. The man simply refused to give in and became one of the greatest players of all time through hard work and dedication. A true legend.
With all of the above being said, and out of curiosity, how much do you think Keane would go for in today’s transfer market?
In my opinion, a player of his calibre in his prime would surely be priceless.
Sources:
http://keepitonthedeck.com/blog/2019/7/23/persistent-road-to-greatness-the-roy-keane-story
https://www.transfermarkt.co.za/roy-keane/erfolge/spieler/3396
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Keane
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/what-fuels-keanes-venom-6358276.html
Footage:
Premier League
UEFA Champions League
FA Cup
Manchester United
Youtube