Roy Keane

Keane began his management career at Sunderland shortly after his retirement as a player and took the club from 23rd position in the Football League Championship, in late August, to win the division title and gain promotion to the Premier League.

Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, former coach, and former professional player.

He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during his time at English club Manchester United.

Roy Maurice Keane was born into a working class family in the Ballinderry Park area of Cork's Mayfield suburb on 10 August 1971.

His father Maurice took work wherever he could find; this included jobs at a local knitwear company and at Murphy's Irish Stout brewery, among others.

His family was keen on sport, especially football, and many of his relatives had played for junior Cork clubs such as Rockmount.

Keane took up boxing at age nine and trained for several years, winning all of his four bouts in the novice league.

During this period, he was developing as a much more promising footballer at Rockmount, and his potential was highlighted when he was voted "Player of the Year" in his first season.

Many of his teammates were offered trials abroad with English football teams, but Keane was not.

He supported Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur as a child, citing Liam Brady and Glenn Hoddle as his favourite players, but Manchester United player Bryan Robson later became the footballer he most admired.

Initially, Keane was turned down from the Ireland schoolboys squad after a trial in Dublin; one explanation from former Ireland coach and scout Ronan Scally was that the 14-year-old Keane was "just too small" to make it at the required level.

Undeterred, he began applying for trials with English clubs, but he was turned down by each one.

As his childhood years passed, he took up temporary jobs involving manual work while waiting for a breakthrough in his football prospects.

In 1989, he eventually signed for the semi-professional Irish club Cobh Ramblers after persuasion from Ramblers' youth team manager Eddie O'Rourke.

Keane was one of two Ramblers representatives in the inaugural FAI/FAS scheme in the Dublin suburb of Palmerstown, and it was through this initiative that he got his first taste of full-time training, facilitated by living in nearby Leixlip, County Kildare from Monday-Friday.

His rapid progression into a promising footballer was reflected by the fact that he would regularly turn out for Ramblers' youth side as well as the actual first team, often playing twice in the same weekend as a result.

Keane’s Cobh senior debut came on 13 August 1989 in Buckley Park as the Rams went down 2-0 to Kilkenny City in the Opel League Cup.

First team manager Liam McMahon gave Roy his League of Ireland debut on November 5 that year, in a 2–1 loss at Bray Wanderers.

That season he would make 29 senior appearances as Cobh finished seventh.

His two goals came against St Francis and Finn Harps.

In an FAI Youth Cup match against Belvedere in February 1990, Keane's performance attracted the attention of watching Nottingham Forest scout Noel McCabe, who asked him to travel over to England for a trial.

Keane impressed Forest manager Brian Clough, and eventually, a deal for Keane worth £47,000 was struck with Cobh Ramblers in the summer of 1990.

Keane initially found life in Nottingham difficult due to the long periods away from his family, and he would often ask the club for a few days' home leave to return to Cork.

Keane expressed his gratitude at Clough's generosity when considering his requests, as it helped him get through his early days at the club.

Keane's first games at Forest came in the Under-21s team during a pre-season tournament in the Netherlands.

In the final against Haarlem, he scored the winning penalty in a shootout to decide the competition, and he was soon playing regularly for the reserve team.

His professional league debut came against Liverpool at the start of the 1990–91 season, and the resulting performance encouraged Clough to use him more and more as the season progressed.

At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he played in every Republic of Ireland game.

He was a dominating box-to-box midfielder noted for his aggressive and highly competitive style of play, an attitude that helped him excel as captain of Manchester United from 1997 until his departure in 2005.

Keane helped United achieve sustained success during his 12 years at the club, his honours including seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the UEFA Champions League.

He was sent home from the 2002 FIFA World Cup after a dispute with national coach Mick McCarthy over the team's training facilities.

Regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in 2004.

In his 18-year playing career, Keane played for Cobh Ramblers, Nottingham Forest, and Manchester United before ending his career at Celtic.

He then signed for Celtic, where he won the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup before he retired as a player in 2006.

Keane played at the international level for the Republic of Ireland over 14 years, most of which he spent as captain.

He resigned in December 2008, and from April 2009 to January 2011, he was manager of Championship club Ipswich Town.

In November 2013, he was appointed assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national team by manager Martin O'Neill, a role he held until 2018.

He would also have short assistant manager spells at Aston Villa in 2014 and Nottingham Forest in 2019.

Keane has also worked as a studio analyst for British channels ITV's and Sky Sports football coverage.

He was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2021.