 Keown in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Martin Raymond Keown[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1966-07-24)24 July 1966 (age 59)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Oxford, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Centre back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1980–1984 | Arsenal | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1984–1986 | Arsenal | 22 | (0) |
| 1985 | →Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) | 23 | (1) |
| 1986–1989 | Aston Villa | 112 | (3) |
| 1989–1993 | Everton | 96 | (0) |
| 1993–2004 | Arsenal | 310 | (4) |
| 2004–2005 | Leicester City | 17 | (0) |
| 2005 | Reading | 5 | (0) |
| 2012 | Wembley | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 585 | (8) | |
| International career | |||
| 1983 | England U17 | 3 | (0) |
| 1983 | England Youth | 1 | (0) |
| 1987–1988 | England U21 | 8 | (0) |
| 1991 | England B | 1 | (0) |
| 1992–2002 | England | 43 | (2) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Martin Raymond Keown (/ˈkiːoʊn/Kyohn; born 24 July 1966) is an Englishfootball pundit and former professional footballer. Adefender, he played from 1984 to 2005, notably in thePremier League forArsenal, where he made over 400 appearances for the club and won ten honours.
Keown also played forBrighton & Hove Albion,Aston Villa,Everton,Leicester City andReading. He made his England debut in 1992 againstFrance and went on to win 43 caps for the national side over the next ten years, gradually forming a respected defensive partnership with Arsenal teammateTony Adams at both club and international level. Keown represented England at four major international football finals: the1998 and2002 World Cups, as well asEuro 1992 andEuro 2000.
He is now a part-time scout and coach for Arsenal, as well as apundit for theBBC andBT Sport. He came out of retirement in 2012 and briefly played forCombined Counties League Premier Division sideWembley in theirFA Cup fixtures.
Acentre back fromOxford, Keown played for local sides and his localGaelic football team as a boy, before joiningArsenal on a schoolboy contract in 1980, though he made his professional debut on loan atBrighton & Hove Albion in 1984. His debut for Arsenal came on 23 November 1985, whenDon Howe was still their manager, and they drew 0–0 withWest Bromwich Albion atThe Hawthorns. He played 22 league games that season, mostly alongsideTommy Caton orDavid O'Leary, but whenGeorge Graham was appointed manager on 14 May 1986, he decided that Keown was not part of his plans to try to turn Arsenal into league title contenders and on 9 June 1986 he joinedAston Villa for £125,000.[3][4] Graham offered him £50 a week less than Keown wanted and stated in 1993: "It seemed crazy that they wouldn't agree and although I didn't want to leave and they didn't want me to go, it became a matter of principle."[5]
Keown signed for Villa after a season in which they had narrowly avoided relegation to the Second Division, a mere four years after beingEuropean Cup winners and five years since being league champions. ManagerGraham Turner was under a lot of pressure, and after their dismal form continued into the1986–87 season he was sacked on 14 September 1986 and succeeded byBilly McNeill. Keown appeared in 36 league games that season, but he was unable to save Villa from finishing bottom of the First Division and being relegated after 12 successive seasons in the top flight.
Graham Taylor then arrived atVilla Park to succeed the sacked McNeill, and Keown was very much part of his rebuilding plans as he missed just two league games and scored three goals as Villa finished second in the Second Division and won promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt. Keown helped the team secure its top flight status the following season, but was sold toEverton on 7 August 1989, just before the start of the1989–90 season, for a fee of £750,000.[6]
Keown had a fine start to his Everton career, and they topped the table for a while in late autumn and there was hope that they could win the league title, but their form ebbed away after Christmas and they managed only a sixth-place finish. Keown managed 20 league appearances that campaign and a slightly better 24 in1990–91, when Harvey was replaced byHoward Kendall as manager in November. He missed just three league games in1991–92, which brought another mid-table finish, and he played just 13 more league games for the Toffees before accepting a £2 million return to Arsenal in February 1993.[7]
Keown did not feature in Arsenal's historicFA Cup andLeague Cup double of 1993 due to beingcup-tied. However, he did manage 16 Premier League appearances, playing in a number of positions. He andAndy Linighan were high quality defenders competing alongsideSteve Bould and captainTony Adams in the centre of one of the best English league defences of the 1990s, and Keown also filled in at right-back, left-back, and central midfield, demonstrating a versatility that would be called upon for several seasons.
Keown missed out on Arsenal'sCup Winners' Cup Final win overParma the following year through injury[8][9] although he did play a part in the overall campaign after appearing in earlier rounds.[10] However, he did start the final the following season when Arsenal were narrowly beaten byReal Zaragoza after extra time.
He rarely missed a game in his first four full seasons back at Highbury, and in1996-97,Arsène Wenger's first season at the club, he made 28 appearances as a defensive midfielder. The season ended painfully when he broke his shoulder playing for England in the1997 Tournoi de France, ruling him out for five months. As a result, in the1997–98double winning campaign, 31-year-old Keown played just 18 times in the Premier League, employed entirely as a centre back. The season saw him claim the first two major trophies of his career after well over a decade of waiting.[11]
In the following seasons, Keown became an integral part ofArsène Wenger's team. In a2000–01 UEFA Champions League tie againstFC Shakhtar Donetsk, Keown memorably scored two goals in the last five minutes to help Arsenal come back from 2–1 down to win 3–2.[12] He won a secondDouble with the club in 2002, and remained a first team regular until the end of the2002–03 season, when the Gunners won their ninthFA Cup but blew the chance of a unique fourth double due to a late loss of form in the league.[13]
On 21 September 2003, during Arsenal andManchester United's match atOld Trafford, Manchester United were awarded a late penalty with the score at 0–0. AfterRuud van Nistelrooy's penalty hit the bar, Keown andRay Parlour confronted van Nistelrooy, and Keown hit him on the back of the head. After the final whistle, Keown was then involved in a post-match melee; he was subsequently fined £20,000 and suspended for three games for his part in what is now known as the "Battle of Old Trafford".[14] Arsenal would go on to end the2003–04 season asunbeaten champions. Keown made 10 league appearances during the season, before being released on a free transfer in the summer of 2004 after 11 years in his second spell at the club.[15][16]
He signed forLeicester City, but left after less than six months and signed forReading in January 2005 until the end of the season, after which he retired.[17] As part of apublicity stunt Keown, and a number of other former professional players, includingRay Parlour,Danny Dichio,Jaime Moreno,Graeme Le Saux,Claudio Caniggia andBrian McBride, joined non-leagueWembley in order to take part in their2012–13 FA Cup run.[18][19] Wembley were knocked out in a replay byUxbridge after beatingLangford in the previous round.[20]
Keown playedU16 andU18 for England. When it was learned that his mother was Irish and his father Northern Irish,Jack Charlton made an inquiry as to his availability to play for theRepublic of Ireland but Keown chose to represent the country of his birth. He was also eligible to play forNorthern Ireland as his father was fromCounty Fermanagh.[21] He made hisEngland debut in 1992 againstFrance. With an injury toMark Wright he was called up into England's squad forUEFA Euro 1992, and played in all three of England's matches.
Keown's early ascension to the England team underGraham Taylor did not continue underTerry Venables, who ignored him completely. Keown earned a recall fromGlenn Hoddle in 1997, and went to the1998 World Cup, but did not play. Keown became a regular underKevin Keegan (captaining the side againstFinland) and played in two of England'sEuro 2000 matches.
By the timeSven-Göran Eriksson became manager, Keown's age was starting to count against him, though he went to the2002 World Cup, again as a non-playing squad member. Keown retired from international football the day after England's exit at the hands ofBrazil.[22] In all he played 43 times for England, scoring two goals.
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Keown joined the coaching staff ofNewbury in August 2005, but is now coaching back at former club Arsenal where he is taking his coaching badges. Former Arsenal managerTerry Neill identified him as a key figure behind the success of Arsenal's inexperienced "new-look" defence (which the team resorted to after ongoing injury problems in the 2005–06 season, notably setting a record for minutes played without conceding in theChampions League).[23] In 2007–08 Keown was also a coach for theOxford University Blues Football team on a part-time basis.[24]
Keown regularly appears as a pundit on theBBC's football coverage andMatch of the Day, as well as covering the Champions League for Irish broadcasterTV3. He was also working forESPN UK during the2011 Emirates Cup.
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Arsenal | 1983–84 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1984–85 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1985–86 | First Division | 22 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | 27 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 22 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 27 | 0 | ||||
| Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) | 1984–85 | Second Division | 16 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 16 | 0 | ||||
| 1985–86 | Second Division | 7 | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | — | 2[a] | 1 | 11 | 3 | |||
| Total | 23 | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | 27 | 3 | ||||
| Aston Villa | 1986–87 | First Division | 36 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 42 | 0 | |
| 1987–88 | Second Division | 42 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 48 | 3 | ||
| 1988–89 | First Division | 34 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 2[a] | 0 | 42 | 0 | ||
| Total | 112 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 132 | 3 | |||
| Everton | 1989–90 | First Division | 20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 26 | 0 | ||
| 1990–91 | First Division | 24 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 5[a] | 0 | 35 | 0 | ||
| 1991–92 | First Division | 39 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 1[a] | 0 | 46 | 0 | ||
| 1992–93 | Premier League | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 0 | |||
| Total | 96 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | 126 | 0 | |||
| Arsenal | 1992–93 | Premier League | 16 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 16 | 0 | ||||
| 1993–94 | Premier League | 33 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7[b] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 47 | 0 | |
| 1994–95 | Premier League | 31 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 44 | 1 | |
| 1995–96 | Premier League | 34 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | — | — | 41 | 1 | |||
| 1996–97 | Premier League | 33 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2[e] | 0 | — | 41 | 1 | ||
| 1997–98 | Premier League | 18 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 27 | 0 | ||
| 1998–99 | Premier League | 34 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5[f] | 1 | 1[c] | 0 | 44 | 2 | |
| 1999–2000 | Premier League | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9[g] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 39 | 1 | |
| 2000–01 | Premier League | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9[f] | 2 | — | 39 | 2 | ||
| 2001–02 | Premier League | 22 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6[f] | 0 | — | 34 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | Premier League | 24 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5[f] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 35 | 0 | |
| 2003–04 | Premier League | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1[f] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |
| Total | 310 | 4 | 35 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 49 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 422 | 8 | ||
| Leicester City | 2004–05 | Championship | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 18 | 0 | ||
| Reading | 2004–05 | Championship | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 5 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 585 | 8 | 60 | 0 | 48 | 2 | 49 | 3 | 15 | 1 | 757 | 14 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1992 | 9 | 1 |
| 1993 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 9 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 43 | 2 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 March 1992 | Stadion Evžena Rošického, Prague, Czechoslovakia | 2 |  Czechoslovakia | 2–2 | 2–2 | Friendly |
| 2 | 3 June 2000 | National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta | 30 |  Malta | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly |
Arsenal[27]
Individual
Keown lives in and around Oxford with his wife Nicola.[30][31] Keown's sonNiall is also a footballer.[32]
England squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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