Roy Maurice Keane (born in Cork, August 10 1971) is an Irish footballer. He plays club football in England for Manchester United, where he is also the captain of the team.
Club Career
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.
Despite reaching an FA Cup final in 1991, Nottingham Forest were relegated from the top flight and the race to sign Keane was on. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson signed Keane for the Old Trafford club 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 boundless energy and inspirational leadership 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. Keane returned however, to captain the club to an unprecedented treble in 1999 including the FA Premier League, European Cup 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 FA Premier League titles (1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003), 4 FA Cups (1994, 1996, 1999, 2004), a European Cup (1999) and an Intercontinental Cup (1999). On February 5, 2005, Keane scored his 50th goal for Manchester United against Birmingham City F.C..
Although he maintains a low profile off the pitch, Keane's confrontational playing style, aggressive demeanour and short fuse have seen him involved in a string of violent incidents, making him popular with supporters of his home club, Manchester United, but the subject of intense dislike by many others in the game. Indeed many believe he ought to have been banned from football on the basis of, amongst other infractions, a gruesome career-ending tackle on Manchester City player Alf-Inge Haaland. Keane has subsequently admitted that he intended "to hurt" Haaland in a controversial autobiography. However, the physical attack performed by Roy Keane was not what caused Haaland's career to end, infact, Haaland had previously stated on his website that a recurring problem in his leg was what caused his prolonged absence from football.
He has announced that he will retire in the summer of 2006, at the end of his current contract with Manchester United.
International Career
At international level, Keane has represented his country 63 times (as of September 2004). Keane was named Ireland's player of the tournament at the 1994 World Cup 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 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea.
However, during the summer of 2002, at a pre-World Cup training camp, Keane and Ireland manager Mick McCarthy had a disagreement about the FAI preparations for the World Cup and McCarthy sent the Ireland skipper home. 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.
The appointment of Brian Kerr as Ireland manager in 2003 eventually led to the 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.
