Real name Roy Keane
Height 5.11
Weight 12.00
Date of birth 10-08-1971
Place of birth Cork
Position Midfielder
Nationality Ireland
International Caps 65
International Goals 9

Summary
Born on the 10th August 1971, in Cork, Ireland

Roy Keane signed for Celtic in December 2005 after his contract with Manchester Utd was cancelled by mutual consent [BBC]
Keane scored 9 goals in 65 games for Ireland.

After a long standing hip injury, he announced his retirement from football in July 2007. [BBC]

Roy Keane has entered management, taking over from fellow Irishman Niall Quinn at Sunderland (27/08/06) [BBC]



Roy Keane left his old club Manchester United on ambivalent terms. He loved the club and their fans loved him even more for his uncompromising and martyr-like devotion to winning, but slagging your team mates off publicly in no uncertain terms ain't going to win you popularity contests amongst your colleagues, so he left/got pushed/chucked out/walked out (delete as you think appropriate).

With various clubs after him, few would have begrudged him moving to Real Madrid for a big fat retirement cheque, but he didn’t go there, he came to Celtic. Counter to popular belief, there is little evidence that he was some died-in-the-wool Celtic fan as a boy, but reports said he was a big Spurs fan. Nevertheless, during his career at Man U, he came to Celtic to watch us a number of times and fell in love with the club, and noted in his biography (written whilst he was still at Man U) that he wished to play for us before the end of his career.

Arguments in the Celtic Forums raged over to take him or not to Celtic, but the last word was always going to be Gordon Strachan’s and he brought him to Paradise!

His Celtic career started surprisingly, and in the spartan surrounding of Clyde in the Scottish Cup, where we duly lost 2-1! You read that right. Embarrassing start but hardly at fault in anyway.

Anyhow, the rest of his short career was a vast improvement, with no repeats of that debacle, sadly though punctured by injury but gathering enough appearances to get a League winners medal. He played a role in the League Cup win v Dunfermline but had to come off injured which was his last appearance for the club. To the critics dismay, he handled the Celtic v Rangers game well (remaining unbeaten) starring in the 1-0 win at Ibrox but still got involved in his normal physical manner, and even got a yellow card for his troubles (which I’m sure he will treasure for the rest of his life!).

After much consideration, he admitted that he couldn’t carry on his career. Injuries were too much for his overworked body to be able to handle anymore, and he announced time up on his career having won over every Celtic fan for his dedication through his short time (except Billy McNeil for some reason!). He admited to generally keeping to himself whilst at Celtic, preferring not to get close to the others but did admit he liked that there were no egos amongst his team-mates as like at Man U.

His final game was his testimonial at Old Trafford, which was an emotional occasion for him, even breaking a rare smile on the pitch He played the first 45mins with us and the second 45 with Man U in the 2-0 victory for the home side bringing down a curtain on a glorious and controversial career.

Football will unlikely see many more gladiatorial figures than him in its history, and Celtic can be thankful to have been able to count him as one of its sons.

All Clubs

Player

1989-1990 Cobh Ramblers
1990-1993 Nottm Forest £10k
1993-2005 Manchester Utd £3.75m
2006 Celtic Free [BBC]
2006 Retired

Manager

2006 - Present Sunderland

Articles

Roy Keane (Wit and Wisdom)
Classic Rants
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