Robbie Keane

[Serb]

Robbie is going to do whats good for Robbie which is fair enough. But he can't expect to be an automatic pick (and captain) for Ireland if he is not playing regular first team football for his club side.

I was just being cynical, but yeah, for any other player I would agree with you 100%. I just think it's different for Keane because he's that much better than the alternatives for me. Doyle is the only other striker who has managed to score goals at the top level, and not too many at that. I think it is taking the **** picking him as a starter in every friendly and not subbing him most of the time however. I'd happily endorse seeing other players (Long or Stokes I guess) being used in his stead for at least 45 minutes in friendly games, and giving them a chance to stake their claim for the number 10 jersey.

Totally unrelated to everything that's going on with him playing / not playing / moving club / not moving club, I've never considered him a great captain of Ireland, and would happily see this used as an excuse to pass the armband to Dunne. Unlikely to happen though.

[Kingdom]

Anyone that tries to make out the mere plebs like ourselves taking a paycut and a professional footballer earning mega bucks taking a pay cut is the same is a goon. full stop.
Noely has hit the nail on the head here. Our worry is that our talisman and captain isn't going to be in the best shape he can be for the resumption of our qualifying campaign.

[Lionel Ritchie]

In a world where a petulant thug like Joey Barton will take an 11 grand a week cut just to get a new deal I don't believe too much is being asked of Robbie that he draw his horns in a bit in terms of the moola and bonus' he's asking when virtually any move he's likely to make now will be downward.

If I were a manager I'd be thinking he doesn't have the hunger.

[jbyrne]

maybe he just doesnt fancy playing for west ham or birmingham and priced himself out of their market on purpose.
joey barton took a pay cut to play for a club he loves playing for. there is a difference

or maybe birmingham made the whole thing up...

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2011/...irmingham.html

[razor]

or maybe birmingham made the whole thing up...

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2011/...irmingham.html

Damage limitation by Keane.
Sure what else is Robbie going to say, "Yes i'm a greedy, money hungry, spolit brat?"

[Lionel Ritchie]

maybe he just doesnt fancy playing for west ham or birmingham and priced himself out of their market on purpose.
joey barton took a pay cut to play for a club he loves playing for. there is a difference

I fail to see what love of the club has to do with it. Joey Barton's a scouser with about as much instinctive or sentimental attachment to the North East of England as Robbie'd have for the Seven Sisters Road. The point is Barton took a pay CUT of about 12-14% to keep playing at the same level when Robbie appears to want the same or more money to drop out out of the silverware chasers and into the survivalists.

If he's pitching high to see if he can scare off all but the bigger fish then he's playing a game he's likely going to come out of ignominiously. It won't be ManU, Chelsea or Arsenal, Villa have just offered 18m for Bent, Everton no more have it then Birmingham or West Ham. Who's that leave? Sunderland and Fulham don't have it, Newcastle, as hit upon, are cutting wages...

or maybe birmingham made the whole thing up...
http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2011/...irmingham.html

Saw that alright. Rattle thrown and dummy spat.

[Closed Account]

I find it hard to criticise Keane without knowing the full story. All we know is that Birmingham said they wouldn't pursue it because it wasn't in the "financial interests of the club" based on the his "age and the length of contract" asked for.

All the €65,000-€70,000 stuff, at the moment is just rumour and conjecture. Keano has come out himself and said that there was never even an offer on the table, and Birmingham was never an option.

Robbie is no fool and isn't going to dive into the first option on the table, he knows its his last contract probably(hence the reason he's looking for 4+ years). He took a £15,000 pay cut this time last year (Liverpool-Tottenham), I doubt he'll be looking at taking anything like that now. The lad has made a career out of getting the most money possible for his talent, I'd trust he'll find a suitable deal this time too.

[jbyrne]

I fail to see what love of the club has to do with it.

everything really. id say robbie would take a pay cut to stay at spurs if he was going to get regular football

[Closed Account]

Damage limitation by Keane.
Sure what else is Robbie going to say, "Yes i'm a greedy, money hungry, spolit brat?"

or Damage limitation by Birmingham.
Sure what else would they say, "Yes we agreed a fee, but Robbie said 'Why the feck would I go to Birmingham!' "

[Noelys Guitar]

I find it hard to criticise Keane without knowing the full story. All we know is that Birmingham said they wouldn't pursue it because it wasn't in the "financial interests of the club" based on the his "age and the length of contract" asked for.

All the €65,000-€70,000 stuff, at the moment is just rumour and conjecture. Keano has come out himself and said that there was never even an offer on the table, and Birmingham was never an option.

Robbie is no fool and isn't going to dive into the first option on the table, he knows its his last contract probably(hence the reason he's looking for 4+ years). He took a £15,000 pay cut this time last year (Liverpool-Tottenham), I doubt he'll be looking at taking anything like that now. The lad has made a career out of getting the most money possible for his talent, I'd trust he'll find a suitable deal this time too.

Redknapp the Spurs manager confirmed that Birmingham had made an offer for Keane and Spurs had accepted it. And Keane himself confirmed today that he has had no other offers. Spurs have a good side now but their two top scorers are a midfielder and a full back. And yet Robbie can't get a game. I just can't see any other club in the Premiership offering him a 3/4 deal on the wages he is on.

[Stuttgart88]

Robbie Keane is entitled to do whatever suits Robbie Keane. He owes no one, especially Irish supporters, nothing. If he prefers to live in London and to try and earn as much as possible, good luck to him. How do you know "he's loaded"? He, like many others, may have put his money in bank shares or property. We don't know. I would never criticise anyone for trying to earn more money or preferring to live in London than Birmingham.

Best of luck to him whatever he does.

Do you really believe he's not loaded?

I'm not saying he owes anyone anything or that he should commit to anything hastily, but he's not wanted at Spurs and he's in the autumn of his career. Staying in London should not be a deal breaker for him.

[Closed Account]

Redknapp the Spurs manager confirmed that Birmingham had made an offer for Keane and Spurs had accepted it. And Keane himself confirmed today that he has had no other offers. Spurs have a good side now but their two top scorers are a midfielder and a full back. And yet Robbie can't get a game. I just can't see any other club in the Premiership offering him a 3/4 deal on the wages he is on.

Obviously I meant an offer to Robbie himself, its well known that Spurs and Birmingham had agreed a fee. I think the lenght of contract will be key.

[Sullivinho]

Robbie was on SSN earlier claiming Birmingham's statement was 'bizarre' and suggesting they were just looking for publicity.

I'm not saying he owes anyone anything or that he should commit to anything hastily, but he's not wanted at Spurs and he's in the autumn of his career. Staying in London should not be a deal breaker for him.

Agree 100%

[Charlie Darwin]

Do you really believe he's not loaded?

I'm not saying he owes anyone anything or that he should commit to anything hastily, but he's not wanted at Spurs and he's in the autumn of his career. Staying in London should not be a deal breaker for him.

Yeah but Robbie is clearly not the one wearing the trousers in the Keane household. If Claudine doesn't want to leave London then he'll probably find a way to stay in London.

[razor]

or Damage limitation by Birmingham.
Sure what else would they say, "Yes we agreed a fee, but Robbie said 'Why the feck would I go to Birmingham!' "

The difference being Birmingham got theirs in first.

[Lionel Ritchie]

More so now than ever he should be thinking about what's best for his football -not his bank balance. Get the football right and the money'll likely follow it. If he's playing brinkmanship and it goes wrong or if it transpires he's happy to stay in Spurs reserves and picking up his cheques -fine. But it should have dire implications for his Ireland prospects. Should have.

[shakermaker1982]

Keane and Birmingham have spent the last two weeks talking about the weather then and not wages eh?

5 grand pay cut for a man worth 12 million is peanuts. There are also shops north of Watford!!!

He was rusty against Slovakia and missed an absolute sitter. What's he gonna be like in June after spending a year getting splinters on his *** sitting on the bench?

I'm only thinking from an Irish fans perspective and want the best for the national team. I want Keane full of confidence banging in the goals for his club side so that when chances crop up for Ireland he will finish em with his eyes closed. If he wants to stay with Spurs then he should be dropped from the national side if we have a striker in form (i.e. Shane Long).

[paul_oshea]

what keane said was "there was never an offer on the table"
what keane means is "the offer they made didnt match what i expected/wanted". He is just covering bases here by not actually saying that he didn't want the offer made.

[Closed Account]

Keane and Birmingham have spent the last two weeks talking about the weather then and not wages eh?

Where did you get two weeks from? Birminghams fee was agreed on Friday at which point they were officially allowed speak to Keanes representatives. After seeing what Robbie Keane was looking for in a contract, they decided not to negotiate with the player because of "age and length of contract". Deal over.

It just looks like neither party was looking for the same thing from the deal, Birmingham want a stop gap, 1-2 year goalscorer (Miller similiarly) to simply keep them in the league, where as Keane is looking for a long term contract to keep himself in the league.

Robbie has probably copped onto what nearly everybody else has, if his continued rapid drop in ability continues, he'll struggle to get a championship contract in two years. I'd love if he had the luxury of a Sheringham/Larsson and had confidence in his own ability as he gets older and could take 1 or 2 year deals somewhere but he's not a patch on either of those.

But I echo your sentiments regarding his Ireland future. He needs a club, I'd be happy with him playing Championship if it meant it got his confidence and his swagger back, Robbie is never better for Ireland than when he's banging them in for his club. Sadly what Irish fans want and Robbie Keane needs aren't necessarily the same thing. I'm simply defending Robbie Keanes decision to do whats right for his own career. And we shouldn't be getting on his back about it. He's clearly been able to handle it up to now.

[SkStu]

Where did you get two weeks from? Birminghams fee was agreed on Friday at which point they were officially allowed speak to Keanes representatives. After seeing what Robbie Keane was looking for in a contract, they decided not to negotiate with the player because of "age and length of contract". Deal over.

It just looks like neither party was looking for the same thing from the deal, Birmingham want a stop gap, 1-2 year goalscorer (Miller similiarly) to simply keep them in the league, where as Keane is looking for a long term contract to keep himself in the league.

Robbie has probably copped onto what nearly everybody else has, if his continued rapid drop in ability continues, he'll struggle to get a championship contract in two years. I'd love if he had the luxury of a Sheringham/Larsson and had confidence in his own ability as he gets older and could take 1 or 2 year deals somewhere but he's not a patch on either of those.

But I echo your sentiments regarding his Ireland future. He needs a club, I'd be happy with him playing Championship if it meant it got his confidence and his swagger back, Robbie is never better for Ireland than when he's banging them in for his club. Sadly what Irish fans want and Robbie Keane needs aren't necessarily the same thing. I'm simply defending Robbie Keanes decision to do whats right for his own career. And we shouldn't be getting on his back about it. He's clearly been able to handle it up to now.

Although i agree with the majority of your post, i cant agree with these two statements. I love Keane, by the way, given me some of the best international soccer (sorry) moments of my life and i hope he gets his career sorted and back on track. I think he will have a glorious swansong at the end of his career by the way.

1) Its a really unfair comparison to make between Sheringham and Larsson. In fact he is almost a hybrid of the two. But e.g. he's far more prolific at international level than Teddy and Larsson and equally (if not more) prolific at club level than the two (hard to compare Larssons Celtic career with Robbies Spurs career).

2) I also dont think that Robbie has been able to handle his career and make the right decisions. In fact, he has consistently made a series of bad career moves.