MARTIN KEOWN, who was born in Oxford six days before England won the World Cup in 1966, made his breakthrough into what became an illustrious playing career with Brighton.
The TV pundit football fans see today was famously a stalwart defender for Arsenal, Everton and Aston Villa, not to mention England.
But as an emerging player yet to break through at the Gunners, he got the chance of first team football courtesy of Brighton boss Chris Cattlin, who negotiated with Arsenal boss Don Howe to secure his services on loan.
“He is a young player with plenty of potential,” Cattlin wrote in his Albion matchday programme notes. “He is still learning and will make the odd mistake, but these are all part of learning and I feel he will be a very good player in the very near future.”
He made his debut away to Manchester City in February 1985 and, in two spells, stayed a total of six months with the Seagulls, making 23 appearances. It wasn’t long before he earned the divisional young player of the month award and Cattlin said: “Martin has done very well and done himself great credit in coming into the heat and tension of a promotion battle and coping well.”
He made such a great impression, it wasn’t long before the Albion matchday programme went to town with a somewhat gushing feature about the young man.
“Fans and Albion players alike have been impressed by the character and maturity displayed by the 18-year-old English Youth International,” said Tony Norman. “No less a judge than former England manager Ron Greenwood was instrumental in Martin’s recent Robinson Young Player of the Month award.
“So, the young man from Oxford must have something special going for him. On the field he is a sharp, decisive player, but away from the game he is quietly spoken and unassuming.”
Some things obviously changed!
“His progress in football has not gone to his head and he is quick to thank the special people who have helped him find success,” Norman continued.
Keown told him: “Going back to the early days in Oxford, I think my parents were the greatest help of all. I played for several different teams, so there was never a particular coach who helped me. But my family were always there giving me their full encouragement and support.”
At Highbury, he credited the scout who took him to Arsenal, Terry Murphy, as his greatest help in his early years, helping him to settle into the professional game.
“He was very good to me,” said Keown. “I was only 15 when I joined Arsenal as an apprentice. I was in digs in North London and it was all quite a change from life in Oxford. It took a bit of getting used to.”
The former Chelsea midfield player John Hollins, who played for Arsenal between 1979 and 1983, was also an influence.
“He always had a word of encouragement for the youngsters,” said Keown. “He is the kind of man who can make a club happier just by being there. I liked and respected him a great deal. He was a model professional.”
During his time with Brighton, young Keown lived with physiotherapist Malcom Stuart and his family. “They have made me feel very much at home,” he said. “It has been a happy time for me.”
Unfortunately for Brighton, Keown returned to Highbury and it wasn’t long before Howe, the former coach who’d become Arsenal manager, gave him his first team debut on 23 November 1985 in a 0-0 draw away to West Brom.
In much the same way he has become something of a Marmite pundit on the TV, Keown wasn’t every manager’s flavour. When George Graham was appointed Arsenal boss in 1986, Keown didn’t figure in his plans and he sold him to Aston Villa (see picture below) for £200,000.
Three years later, he became what Colin Harvey described as his best signing during his time as boss of Everton. A fee of £750,000 took him to Goodison.
In an interview with the Liverpool Echo back in 2013, Keown declared: “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Everton. The only disappointment was that I couldn’t contribute to the club winning anything tangible in my four years there.
“I played under Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall and I was eternally grateful to them for the opportunity to play at a club like Everton.
“Looking back, in hindsight it was probably a bit much to ask a young lad, which I was then, to step into the boots of a club legend like Kevin Ratcliffe. But I always gave absolutely everything.”
Keown added: “The atmosphere was always superb at Goodison. Even though I played a lot of my career at Highbury, I loved Goodison.”
It was during his time at Everton that he won the first of his 43 England caps, getting the call-up from Graham Taylor to join the squad in 1992 to replace Mark Wright. When Terry Venables took over, he didn’t get a look-in.
But Glenn Hoddle restored him to the squad in 1997 and, although he was part of the 1998 World Cup squad, he didn’t get a game. He was a regular under Kevin Keegan and, in a game against Finland, had the honour of captaining the side. Age began to count against him by the time Sven-Goran Eriksson took charge of England and, although he was part of the 2002 World Cup squad, he wasn’t selected for any games.
His return to Arsenal in February 1993 meant he was the first player since the days of the Second World War to rejoin the Gunners, and it went on to become a 10-year spell in which he helped the club to win three Premier League titles and the FA Cup three times.
Arsenal paid a £2m fee to bring back their former apprentice and he and Andy Linighan were more than able deputies who kept established first choices Steve Bould and Tony Adams on their toes.
“Martin was deployed most frequently at centre-half where his formidable pace and thunderous tackling combined to thwart both target men and strikers running in behind,” declared an article on arsenal.com, lauding the merits of the ‘50 greatest Arsenal players’. “It meant, too, that he was vastly capable in an anchoring midfield role; something utilised by his manager.”
While not always a regular, Keown became an integral part of Arsene Wenger’s double-winning sides of 1998 and 2002 and remained a part of the set-up through to the winning of the FA Cup against Southampton in Cardiff in 2003.
The following season included the much-repeated TV moment when Keown mocked Ruud van Nistelrooy for missing a late penalty in a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, an incident still being discussed only last summer.
Although Arsenal went on to win the title, Keown played only 10 league games and was given a free transfer at the end of the season.
He joined Leicester City, where he played 17 games but moved on to Reading six months later, ending his league career with five games at the Madejski.
Since calling time on his playing career, Keown has, of course, become known for his TV punditry with both the BBC and BT Sport, as well as being a newspaper columnist and contributor to many different media.
On Twitter, @martinkeown5 has 278,000 followers! He has also coached back at Arsenal and been a regular on the football speaker circuit.
IN MY OPINION, one of the best wingers ever to pull on the famous blue and white stripes was Clive Walker, an evergreen player who remarkably played more than 1,000 games for eight clubs.
Walker has also worked for Talksport and appears regularly with former Chelsea and Spurs player Jason Cundy on Chelsea TV and radio (as above).
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