Martin Keown one of our Invincible defenders
In 1966 three times league and FA Cup Winner Martin Keown was born.
Immediately as a schoolboy the defender signed for Arsenal in 1980 however he would make his professional debut four years later for Brighton and Hove Albion in 1984. His eventual Gunners debut occurred in later November of 1985 when Arsenal drew a tedious 0-0 with West Brom underneath manager Don Howe. He endured 22 games that campaign next to Tommy Caton, David O’ Leary however when George Graham became head coach at Arsenal he failed to slot Keown into his squad therefore Keown agreed to join Aston Villa in 1986 for £125,000. Graham had only offered the youngster £50 a week, Keown later said about the situation “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.”
Keown settled down at Villa Park after The Villains had just about avoided the drop to the Second Division the season previously. Keown would make 36 league matches for Villa during the 1986/87 season which proved to be tricky for the midlands club. At the end of the season Villa were unable to avoid relegation.
After a season in the Second Division Aston Villa secured automatic promotion back into the top-flight of English football which Keown helped with, although in the Summer of 1989 he was let go to Everton for the 1989 campaign in a deal worth £750,000.
Keown’s time at Everton got off to a better start in comparison to at Villa with The Toffees in the title hunt at Christmas before dropping off to finish sixth. During the season Keown played in 20 matches and 24 for the 1990/91 campaign. Keown missed a mere three games during the 1991/92 season when Everton fought hard in mid-table.
After having featured in 13 matches during the 1992/93 season Keown won a return to Highbury in February 1993. However Keown was not selected for The Gunners infamous 1993 FA and League Cup final wins over Sheffield Wednesday, although he would make 16 league matches. Keown was included in one of the best Arsenal back lines to grace the game playing alongside Andy Linighan, Steve Bould and captain Tony Adams. Keown was an adaptable defender playing right-back, left-back and centre midfielder.
Keown missed out on more silverware the next year when Arsenal narrowly beat Parma 1-0 in the European Cup Winners Cup final. Although he did appear during the 1995 Cup Winners Cup final which Arsenal lost to Real Zaragoza.
He would hardly miss a game in his first four campaigns at Arsenal and in Arsene Wengers premier 1996/97 season he played 28 times as a defensive midfielder. The season didn’t go too well after that as he broke his shoulder for England in the 1997 Tournoi de France, putting him out on the sideline for five months. This saw him only turn out in 18 matches during the 1997/98 double winning season after Arsenal lifted the Premier League title and FA Cup.
In the next few years Keown became a vital defensive vitamin in Wengers side. During a 2000/01 UEFA Champions League match versus FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Keown netted two times in the last five minutes of the match as Arsenal clawed back a historic 3-2 victory from 2-1 down.
Keown would secure a second double in the 2001/02 season after the Premiership and FA Cup were achieved. The following year Keown and Arsenal unfortunately lost the double again after the league was lost late on, eventually the 2003 FA Cup was won in 1-0 victory over Southampton.
In September 2003 when Arsenal were battling it out at Old Trafford, Manchester United were handed a late penalty with the game at 0-0. Following Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s penalty mess up, Keown and Ray Parlour took on the striker which saw Keown hit him in the back of the head. This saw Keown handed rightly so a £20,000 fine and forced to miss three matches. By the end of the 2003/04 season Arsenal had become the first team since Preston North End in 1888/1889 to go a top-flight of English football undefeated with the Premier League lifted for the third time in five six years.
In summer of 2004 Keown was released on a free transfer after 11 years at The Gunners in his second stint at Highbury.
He went to Leicester City however after less than a half a year he signed for Reading in January 2005 for the remainder of the season, before seeing him retire.
Keown turned out for U16 and U18 England teams. After Jack Charlton found out that his parents were Irish he asked whether Keown could play for The Republic of Ireland however Keown chose The Three Lions instead. In 1982 he made his first team debut for England versus France. After Mark Wight was plagued with injury Keown went into the 1992 UEFA Euro England set-up featuring in three matches.
After a quick climbing up the England ladder under Graham Taylor he failed to keep his spot once Terry Venables took over who paid no attention to Keown at all. By 1997 when Glenn Hoddle was in charge Keown was recalled for England flying off to the 1998 World Cup which he wouldn’t play in. Keown stayed in the England squad and appeared in two matches for Euro 2000.
After Sven-Goran Eriksen was hired as England boss, Keowns age started to show despite going to the 2002 World Cup as a non-playing footballer. He would retire after Brazil ransacked England out of the tournament. After 43 games for his country he netted twice.
Keown turned to management in 2005 joining the coaching team of non-league team Newbury but soon enough went back to Arsenal for his coaching badges. In 2007/08 Keown also coached Oxford University Blues team part-time.
Now age 57 Keown is found more often than not on our screen as a TV pundit for BBC and ESPN UK.
Liam Harding
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