Robbie Keane

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

It was always going to end that way really once his impact reduced, and it has reduced significantly over the past few years. Being dropped for the game in Glasgow really was the start of the end but that was in 2014, walking away nearly two years later does not make you right I'm afraid! It's idle speculation anyway, O'Neill might have asked him to stay on for all we know, I doubt it though.

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Look it was interpreted two ways, that keane would keep showing up regardless of selection or Keane would "walkaway" when he wasn't wanted anymore. Keane was not really selected much, and O'Neill at least gave the impression the last while, over emphasising "having him around the place", as though to placate the "why isn't/is he being selected?" question. Keane weighed up the fact that he was unlikely to feature at all or very little over this campaign and thought coming all that way from LA was too much, especially now with two young kids and that he is probably trying to prolong his time in LA and also the fact he had given 18 years of good service. O'Neill didn't give him much choice as everything appeared to be around what he offered "around the place". But either way he is still scoring in LA at the same rate, and he has retired for Ireland.

Its very debatelable whether Robbie of 2012/13/14 is any different to Robbie of 2015/16

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

It was always going to end that way really once his impact reduced, and it has reduced significantly over the past few years. Being dropped for the game in Glasgow really was the start of the end but that was in 2014, walking away nearly two years later does not make you right I'm afraid! It's idle speculation anyway, O'Neill might have asked him to stay on for all we know, I doubt it though.

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I think P.O.S. is right, obviously. I could have sworn he got a call up for Euro 2016.

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Originally Posted by bennocelt

Only owlsfan brings that up.......never seen anyone else go on about it. Silly stuff.
I am not fan of keano, as he is a bit dim, but what footballer isnt i guess.

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Not quite the only one, Bill. See the article above Stutts cites: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sp...-28652634.html

"The chasm between their share of the public's acclaim is yawning. True, there is a class issue at work but this can hardly be the crux of the matter".

It is an element like his refusal for a while to lick up to the media (which they didn't like) and comes across in the article Stutts cites.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Not quite the only one, Bill. See the article above Stutts cites: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sp...-28652634.html

"The chasm between their share of the public's acclaim is yawning. True, there is a class issue at work but this can hardly be the crux of the matter".

It is an element like his refusal for a while to lick up to the media (which they didn't like) and comes across in the article Stutts cites.

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just on that, I've been to Dundrum cinema a load of times, most recently for Independence Day about six weeks ago, and I've never seen Brian O'Driscoll there. Actually, the only rugby player I've ever met there was Jamie Heaslip when he was doing a signing session in Lifestyle Sports

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

Look it was interpreted two ways, that keane would keep showing up regardless of selection or Keane would "walkaway" when he wasn't wanted anymore. Keane was not really selected much, and O'Neill at least gave the impression the last while, over emphasising "having him around the place", as though to placate the "why isn't/is he being selected?" question. Keane weighed up the fact that he was unlikely to feature at all or very little over this campaign and thought coming all that way from LA was too much, especially now with two young kids and that he is probably trying to prolong his time in LA and also the fact he had given 18 years of good service. O'Neill didn't give him much choice as everything appeared to be around what he offered "around the place". But either way he is still scoring in LA at the same rate, and he has retired for Ireland.

Its very debatelable whether Robbie of 2012/13/14 is any different to Robbie of 2015/16

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I suppose he was willing to accept his reduced contribution up until the point that he wasn't. It's no great mystery really, he might have stuck around if O'Neill really showed him some love but there was no point in making promises he couldn't keep either. Keane is 36 with two young kids and living/working in America... it's been a superhuman effort from him the past two years really for the amount of game time he's got in return.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

just on that, I've been to Dundrum cinema a load of times, most recently for Independence Day about six weeks ago, and I've never seen Brian O'Driscoll there

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He is an awful man for the popcorn though.

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

He is an awful man for the popcorn though.

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it's the cornerstone of every athlete's diet, or so I'm led to believe.

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Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

I could have sworn he got a call up for Euro 2016.

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What's your point?

Good article by Ken Early.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...-now-1.2774893

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Ken Early: Robbie Keane's Ireland contribution doesn't end now

Given the occasion, Oman were probably the perfect opponents

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I would quote the whole article but I don't know what the rules are about posting articles that are normally behind a paywall.

Nice tribute from Crumlin United.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35012852.html

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Crumlin United have brilliant response to LA Galaxy's classy tribute to Robbie Keane

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Irish Times articles aren't behind a paywall, but there is a limit on the number of articles you can view in a week.
There are ways around this..allegedly

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Not quite the only one, Bill. See the article above Stutts cites: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sp...-28652634.html

"The chasm between their share of the public's acclaim is yawning. True, there is a class issue at work but this can hardly be the crux of the matter".

It is an element like his refusal for a while to lick up to the media (which they didn't like) and comes across in the article Stutts cites.

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And there are very good reasons why Robbie kept to a minimal script in public as well as O'driscoll's global sporting profile is a mere fraction of Robbie's.
Sometimes Robbie attracted dreadful journalistic attempts to come to terms with their own chagrin, but claim they are speaking for millions, this goes for an excruciating article in the IT
from 2013 which lays the blame on Keane for being the cause of the rancour but somehow then Keane managed to mature into a person that the journalist could stoop to tolerate, even respect.

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Originally Posted by geysir

I could feel your pain Bonnie

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Thankfully mine was dulled with free whiskey.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

just on that, I've been to Dundrum cinema a load of times, most recently for Independence Day about six weeks ago, and I've never seen Brian O'Driscoll there. Actually, the only rugby player I've ever met there was Jamie Heaslip when he was doing a signing session in Lifestyle Sports

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When I went to see the Revenant in Liffey Valley in January I met Duffer. I say met but I skulked behind him in ticket queue like a schoolgirl would Niall Horan, petrified for him to notice me noticing him. Sigh.

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Originally Posted by BonnieShels

When I went to see the Revenant in Liffey Valley in January I met Duffer. I say met but I skulked behind him in ticket queue like a schoolgirl would Niall Horan, petrified for him to notice me noticing him. Sigh.

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he was sitting beside me at the Belgium game ;) well, his dad was beside me, he was beside his dad
did the same "oh god notice me/please don't notice me" internal argument for the whole game!

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

I got slack on here for interpreting robbies comments a few years ago about walking away when he wasn't wanted, i am not suggesting he is sulking in any way, but I do feel he has done what he said.

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Hang on, what are you saying Paul?

I think everyone feels like he has done exactly what he said. The issue is how to interpret what he said all those years ago. What did he mean by “walk away”. Was it (a) once I’m no longer needed I’ll walk away gracefully and accept that all good things come to an end, or (b) if I’m dropped I’ll quit?

Was “walk away” = retire without complaint (i.e., innocuous), was it something controversial, negative and egocentric?

I can’t recall what you said back then Paul but I’m sure if you got slack it was for taking the (b) interpretation. Now you’re saying I told you so, whilst also saying you’re not saying you think it’s (b). That doesn’t really make sense.

Richard Dunne used the words “walk away” to be completely interchangeable with “retire” without any controversy, I think Keane should be allowed the same benefit. Especially at 36 years old, increasingly peripheral and living in Los Angeles. As DeLorean said, he was first dropped 22 months ago and he kept turning up.

I think Keane was relatively assured of a place in the squad for Euro 2016 so he wanted to go out on a high having played at another Intl tournament, in which he made two appearances.

I think the writing is on the wall that he if he stayed on he is going to participate less and less, and is unlikely to make the World Cup squad.

I don't know what Dunne's body language was when he said that, but the way Keane said it was as if someone had got his back up and was very much said in a defensive tone.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Hang on, what are you saying Paul?

I think everyone feels like he has done exactly what he said. The issue is how to interpret what he said all those years ago. What did he mean by “walk away”. Was it (a) once I’m no longer needed I’ll walk away gracefully and accept that all good things come to an end, or (b) if I’m dropped I’ll quit?

Was “walk away” = retire without complaint (i.e., innocuous), was it something controversial, negative and egocentric?

I can’t recall what you said back then Paul but I’m sure if you got slack it was for taking the (b) interpretation. Now you’re saying I told you so, whilst also saying you’re not saying you think it’s (b). That doesn’t really make sense.

Richard Dunne used the words “walk away” to be completely interchangeable with “retire” without any controversy, I think Keane should be allowed the same benefit. Especially at 36 years old, increasingly peripheral and living in Los Angeles. As DeLorean said, he was first dropped 22 months ago and he kept turning up.

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That quote from Robbie is from 5 years ago when he was in some space after Celtic (west ham?)

"I have not really worried or thought about my position with the Ireland team, It is all about now and I've said before if I didn't play for Ireland and someone else came in, I have always said I would walk away,"

And in the 5 years that followed Robbie has demonstrated beyond any doubt what he meant at the time.

In Nov 2013
"Listen, I want to play as long as I can.
But I'm not daft. I'm 33 years of age, so next time the Euros come around...

"Ultimately it's the manager's choice. All I can do is keep playing well and keep scoring goals and if he sees that I can continue doing that, then there's no problem.
"But I don't have any problems with people making decisions. If anybody feels that I can help them now until the Euros and there's a situation coming around to the Euros where for some reason my legs are gone, then I'll pack it in."

We can take it that Robbie's legs have finally gone.

He touched the ball once vs Sweden in over 20 minutes, and it was in our half. He barely touched it against Belgium too. He is not stupid, he must have known after those games he couldn't contribute any more at this level. You can say he's second guessing MON thinking the same thing, but I think he deserves credit. He knew it was time so retired. We wouldn't be discussing this only for the more hysterical amongst us taking a partisan view of what he said 5 years ago, and one of them bringing the point up again, saying I told you he'd do what I said he's not now doing but kind of doing, at the same time.

If Robbie came out tomorrow and said he's changed his mind and is available for the campaign, I'd be pleased. For all the strikers coming through, I think he has a role. I think that says a lot about either a) how much he still has to offer, or b) my mental health. Fingers crossed it's a).

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

If Robbie came out tomorrow and said he's changed his mind and is available for the campaign, I'd be pleased. For all the strikers coming through, I think he has a role. I think that says a lot about either a) how much he still has to offer, or b) my mental health. Fingers crossed it's a).

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Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness Charlie.

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Actually his goal against Israel has to be well up there.

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Given FFS...

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness Charlie.

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No, supporting Rovers the last five years is. The talking to myself is a more recent innovation.

All the signs are there...;)

It was mentioned on the radio commentary on Wednesday night that, after his final goal, Robbie has now scored at least one international goal in 19 consecutive years
I posted that on the football365 forum and someone replied that might be a world record, and it just might be

I had a look at the wiki page for the list of top international goalscorers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...national_goals
Only five players had a career span the same as Robbie (19 years), or greater - Hossam Hassan(Egypt, 22), Imre Schlosser(Hungary, 22), Fandi Ahmad(Singapore, 19), Romário(Brazil, 19), and Carlos Ruiz(Guatemala, 19)
From the list of Hossam's international goals - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._Hossam_Hassan - he didn't score in 1995, 2001, 2002, or 2003
According to RSSSF, Schlosser didn't score in 1921-1925 - http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/schlosser-intlg.html
Ahmad didn't score in 1984, 1986, 1988, or 1994 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fandi_Ahmad
Romario didn't score in 1991, 1992, or 1993 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rom%C3%A1rio
Ruis didn't score in 2009, 2010 or 2013 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos..._footballer%29

I suppose it's possible that a player with less than 50 international goals might have done it, but pretty unlikely you would think. It's an amazing record really.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

He touched the ball once vs Sweden in over 20 minutes, and it was in our half. He barely touched it against Belgium too. He is not stupid, he must have known after those games he couldn't contribute any more at this level. You can say he's second guessing MON thinking the same thing, but I think he deserves credit. He knew it was time so retired. We wouldn't be discussing this only for the more hysterical amongst us taking a partisan view of what he said 5 years ago, and one of them bringing the point up again, saying I told you he'd do what I said he's not now doing but kind of doing, at the same time.

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Whether robbie anticipated the push or the fall isn't here nor there, the push was likely but in the end he chose to retire himself, he chose to walkaway.

Keane is about halfway through the league season in the states and has scored 20 goals or so similar to the last few years at this stage of the season. Nothing to suggest he is doing anything less this year than he was previous year's.

Wednesday showed albeit against weal opposition that robbie is still the best in and around the box that we have creating something from nothing.

Yep, a bit like you and Charlie (��) I'd probably like to have him around as an option but equally I think it's hard to argue that he hasn't made the right decision at the right time. I've no complaints. Despite what he's doing in the US the last time I saw him in Dublin it looked obvious to me the legs required against good opposition had gone.

This article will go over well.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35019244.html

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Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

This article will go over well.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35019244.html

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You still won't let it go. I think most of the responses to the article respresent "the public" as opposed to Conlon who thinks he speaks for "the public":

oggy81 21 minutes ago
are we missing something or what? what is the reason for the media hate of keane.?? he must be pro-life or something otherwise i really can't understand it.


Macbeth 1 hour ago
Talk about damning with faint praise.!!

Paul Staunton 1 hour ago
From reading the article the case against Keane seems to be the following

- he is confident (you don‘t achieve what he did without confidence)
- his premiership scoring record (which is excellent)
- his international scoring record (which is excellent)
- how he celebrated his world cup goal against Saudi Arabia(shock as footballer likes to celebrate goals)
An absolutely ridiculous article which doesn‘t raise a single decent argument against Robbie.Congrats.

coco33 1 hour ago
Was robbie always involved in off the field trouble, drinking, partying or parading himself in the media? No. Did he love playing and scoring goals for his country? Yes. Open and shut case.

carboncopy 2 hours ago
What a miserable article. Keane could have walked away when he hit 100 caps. He stayed involved with the team despite knowing that in the last few years, he was no longer first choice - not easy to do when you have been top dog for so long. Clearly, the management team valued him or they would have dropped him.

I'd encourage anyone to tune into the sports pages review on Off the Ball on Sundays - if you have the stomach to listen to sports journalists fawning over each other's copy. Now that's a bunch of people who really value themselves a bit too highly, far more than Robbie Keane does.

clarklsparkl 2 hours ago
Most people in life love themselves and the few that dont usually end up committing suicide or self harming. This Tommy guy who wrote article is a bull****ter and the Indo is worse for publishing it.

DevO'Max 3 hours ago
The point of this article seems to be to tell everyone to pay attention to the author.

andyharan9 3 hours ago
jesus christ that was an embarrassingly petty article.

robtor11 3 hours ago
I am no fanboy of Robbie Keane or anyone else but this is a nasty, rather spiteful article I must say...:(

Shankly5 4 hours ago
First prize goes to conlon for the most childish bitter non sensical article written in 2016 so far.

SwayL 4 hours ago
I'm grateful for Robbie, a vital cog in the wheel. It's difficult to judge his international scoring record given that the team was mainly focused on stopping goals at our end.

Shonboleth 11 hours ago
What a horrible article, what was the point of this vitriol? You've lost a reafer

murtles 3 hours ago
@Shonboleth ...looks like you've smoked that reefer.

etc etc

Top prize goes to those who swallowed the joe.ie gem

Robbie Keane vows to quit Ireland if dropped by Trapattoni


Ireland captain Robbie Keane has said that he will walk away from the Irish soccer team if he loses his place in the starting XI.


but say now 5 years later, 'but he did walk away didn't he, just as he vowed he would'.

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Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

This article will go over well.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35019244.html

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Even the use of Robbie's scoring statistics in that article is disingenuous, at the least - Conlon says his Premier League scoring record was "close to a one-in-three ratio". Well, actually 126 goals in 349 games is just under 1 every 2.77 games. While that may not sound like much of a difference at first glance, he would have had to have played 3/4 of an extra season (29 games) without scoring to hit 1 in 3, or failed to score in 2004-2005 when he got 11. Also take into account that during his time Spurs, when he was most settled, he was sharing scoring duties with Jermain Defoe and, so far as I remember, they were always competing with each other to be the main striker and didn't complement each other so well (as Quinn and Keane did for Ireland). Had he had a Quinn-like partner at that time, his record might have been even better. Also, in the early days of his career, he was criticized for not scoring enough tap-ins to be a prolific goalscorer and his scoring record at Coventry and Leeds was worse than 1 in 3. However, after his move to Spurs, his record for the rest of his Premier League career was 1 in 2.67

I read that article yesterday and was going to post it here but decided against it as it was just a load of tripe. Conlon's a geebag

Different strokes for different folks.

Don't think the article's that bad in fairness. Reflects my experience of how a lot of people took (or didn't take) to Robbie in his earlier years. I knew a few people around Lansdowne who pretty much despised him post World Cup seemingly because he had the gall of being fully comprehensible as to his own talent and he narked the ref too much.

Got the feeling reading it Conlan wanted to (or was asked to) hatchet Keane but gave up halfway though. It's almost heartwarming by the end.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Worth noting last night's goal was his first of 2016 - which means he scored in every one of his 19 years as an international.

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Also worth noting Murphy has scored one in his 23 games as an international!!

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Only five players had a career span the same as Robbie (19 years), or greater - Hossam Hassan(Egypt, 22), Imre Schlosser(Hungary, 22), Fandi Ahmad(Singapore, 19), Romário(Brazil, 19), and Carlos Ruiz(Guatemala, 19)

Ruis didn't score in 2009, 2010 or 2013

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Ruiz has joined Keane on 68 goals in what was also his final appearance.

Pity we didn't manage to get Robbie five the last night, he would have jumped into the top ten ahead of Klose & co!

If we had arranged a few friendlies with St Vincent and the Grenadines, I'm sure Robbie would have left Klose well behind in the slipstream

We'd probably have a few more on 50+ goals too!

scored on his return for LA Galaxy last night

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Originally Posted by geysir

If we had arranged a few friendlies with St Vincent and the Grenadines, I'm sure Robbie would have left Klose well behind in the slipstream

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IDK. St Vincent and the Grenadines are improving, maybe The Principality of Sealand?

Have a look at the 100+ goals he scored in the Premier League as compiled by Sky and even you (well, actually, probably not) might recognise the genius of the man.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Have a look at the 100+ goals he scored in the Premier League as compiled by Sky and even you (well, actually, probably not) might recognise the genius of the man.

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It was a purposely daft comment responding to a purposely daft comment someone else made. Banter. Nothing more.