On This Day – 2nd February
Martin Keown signed his first professional contract at Arsenal on this day in 1984, having been on schoolboy terms at the club since 1980.
He remained at Arsenal for a little over two years, making 27 appearances for The Gunners. before joining Aston Villa for £200,000. A year before joining Villa, Keown spent three months on loan at Brighton and Hove Albion where he scored his first professional goal.
He would spend three seasons at Villa, making 131 appearances and finding the back of the net three times in his time at Villa Park. In his last season, Aston Villa would stay up in the First Division by a single point, with Middlesbrough the unfortunate team dropping down to the Second Division with West Ham and Newcastle United.
Everton swooped in just before the start of the 1989/90 season, bringing Keown over to Goodison Park for three quarters of a million pounds.
Over the next three and a half years, he played for Everton 126 times but never managed to get on the scoresheet. He did however, win his first England cap in a 2-0 victory over France in February 1992.
Keown jumped at the chance when George Graham came in an offered £2 million to bring him back to Highbury.
He would stay at Arsenal for the next twelve years and in that time he was part of several successful teams. Keown would partner Tony Adams in two Double winning teams and in his final season at the club, played in ten league games to win a championship medal in the Invincibles team.
One iconic moment of Keown’s career that will always be remembered when he celebrated Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s late penalty miss in the Invincibles season. He jumped all over the Dutchman and shouted in van Nistelrooy’s face. Some of his team mates followed suit and Arsenal were later fined for these players actions.
Over the course of his career, Keown played 43 times for England and scored two goals. Jack Charlton looked into whether he was eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland but he opted to play for England.
Keown scored his first England goal in only his second game for England in a 2-2 draw with Czechoslovakia in March 1992. He would have to wait until 3rd June 2000 for his second England goal, when he opened the scoring for England in a 2-1 over Malta.
Keown appeared for Leicester City and later Reading in the last games of his career before trying his hand at coaching in non-league. He is now a respected pundit and co-commentator.
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