Robbie Keane

[elatedscum]

And as well as being a brilliant man-manager (how many of his countless former players ever slag him off?)

Quite a few recently. I've seen maybe 3 in the last few months, trying to remember who else but Ian Wright has spoken about it on stick to football, where he talked about him basically bullying him and treating him terribly and here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1255526004940536

[Rayzor]

Quite a few recently. I've seen maybe 3 in the last few months, trying to remember who else but Ian Wright has spoken about it on stick to football, where he talked about him basically bullying him and treating him terribly and here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1255526004940536

Abel Tarrabt wasn't a fan either.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...anager-5963176

[Jolly Red Giant]

As for Robbie Keane, I don't know whether he's bright, academically or street-wise, but however he does it, he seems to have done consistently alright for himself for over a quarter of a century, starting as a 17 y.o. in a foreign country.

Either that or he has one helluva an agent!

Keane constantly chased the money (and the limelight trying to boost his profile). He (and his wife) attempted to duplicate the Beckham 'branding' and failed (part of the reason he went to the US). He has had several management companies over his career, dumping them when he thought he could get more money with a different agent - and (apart from a decent stint at Spurs) he bounced around chasing the money throughout his career - the same reason he kept taking the Israeli blood money. By the time he was 30 he was a busted flush in the PL. There is no doubt the guy had talent - but he could have had a much better footballing career if he showed a little more intelligence and focused on football instead of all the other stuff.

[Fixer82]

I wouldn’t say Keane is not bright. He’s inarticulate but I don’t think he’s thick.

Also, say what you want about him chasing money in club football but he always turned up for Ireland when fit and was clearly passionate about football and playing. He always wanted to be on the pitch scoring goals.

[seanfhear]

I wouldn’t say Keane is not bright. He’s inarticulate but I don’t think he’s thick.

Also, say what you want about him chasing money in club football but he always turned up for Ireland when fit and was clearly passionate about football and playing. He always wanted to be on the pitch scoring goals.

Couldn't fault his performances and turning up for Ireland alright.

[John83]

Plenty did at the time. I remember many a call to drop him here. I never really understood those people. Maybe they're whinging about Met Eireann this week.

[tetsujin1979]

the very first post in the thread being a case in point

[seanfhear]

Plenty did at the time. I remember many a call to drop him here. I never really understood those people. Maybe they're whinging about Met Eireann this week.

The excessive whinging at refs was a bit annoying, but I couldn't / wouldn't fault anything else re; Robbie Keane playing for Ireland.

[EalingGreen]

Quite a few recently. I've seen maybe 3 in the last few months, trying to remember who else but Ian Wright has spoken about it on stick to football, where he talked about him basically bullying him and treating him terribly and here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1255526004940536

Redknapp managed nearly 1,500 games, meaning he handled thousands of players. It would be astonishing if there weren't "a few" [sic] who fell out with him; rather the point is how few didn't.

[EalingGreen]

Abel Tarrabt wasn't a fan either.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...anager-5963176

Ask any Spurs or QPR fan, and they'll all tell you, when it comes to supreme natural talent and the ability to do outrageous things with a football, Taarabt was right up there with the very best they've seen.

Then look at his CV, and note that he did precisely nothing with that talent, over many years, with several clubs in different countries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adel_Taarabt

His international career alone proves that, whereby eg he could have been a World Cup winner with France. Ok, I don't know how/why he opted for Morocco, but even there he managed a paltry 30 caps over 13 years, when he could easily have been their Salah/Bale/Son. Yet he fell out with all his national managers, too.

Total tosser.

[mark12345]

Keane constantly chased the money (and the limelight trying to boost his profile). He (and his wife) attempted to duplicate the Beckham 'branding' and failed (part of the reason he went to the US). He has had several management companies over his career, dumping them when he thought he could get more money with a different agent - and (apart from a decent stint at Spurs) he bounced around chasing the money throughout his career - the same reason he kept taking the Israeli blood money. By the time he was 30 he was a busted flush in the PL. There is no doubt the guy had talent - but he could have had a much better footballing career if he showed a little more intelligence and focused on football instead of all the other stuff.

Keane chased the money and the limelight. Yeah, that's right.
He is so much different than all those kids in Ireland who go to bed at night dreaming of playing in the Premier League and ending up homeless and penniless.

[Fixer82]

Plenty did at the time. I remember many a call to drop him here. I never really understood those people. Maybe they're whinging about Met Eireann this week.

I remember someone setting up Robbie Watch to monitor him during Poland game at home in Euro 2016 qualifiers. It was set up for him to fail. Thing is, he had a great game, tracking back and getting tackles in and fighting for the ball constantly. Long replacing him and scoring seemed to prove to the original poster that Robbie was past it. The truth was conveniently avoided.
His on-pitch personality hasn't always endeared him to the Irish public. Hands in the air, whinging, claiming Walters' goal against Faroes etc

[EalingGreen]

Plenty did at the time. I remember many a call to drop him here. I never really understood those people. Maybe they're whinging about Met Eireann this week.

To this outsider, I find it astonishing the way a lot of ROI fans derided Robbie Keane, while simultaneously worshipping his namesake. That is, the Robbie who always turned out for his country (146 caps in 18 years), incl scoring a phenomenal number of goals.

That versus a corner boy who picked and chose when he played (67 caps in 14 years), who couldn't be arsed to go for a vital WC play-off in Iran, and who sabotaged his country's efforts over that whole Saipan debacle, while simultaneously insulting a thoroughly decent man in Mick McCarthy (whose management record incidentally was much better than Roy Keane ever achieved).

As for Robbie chasing the money, so what? He always gave 100% to whoever was paying him, which is why he is still adored eg at WHL, playing over 300 games during two spells.

Compare that with Roy K, who eg frequently derided armchair pundits when he was a player, then when he retired and found he couldn't get a gig as a manager, all but hung around outside TV studios with a sign round his neck saying "Will Talk For Money".

Or sold "autobiographies" to gullible eejits that he admitted he hadn't even read, never mind written, including flogging them at "An Evening With Roy Keane"-type events where he rehashes the same oul crap to the same oul eejits who haven't the wit to realise how he's taking the p1ss from them, as well as their money.

As a wise person once said in a different context, "It is far easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled."

[SkStu]

Keane constantly chased the money (and the limelight trying to boost his profile). He (and his wife) attempted to duplicate the Beckham 'branding' and failed (part of the reason he went to the US). He has had several management companies over his career, dumping them when he thought he could get more money with a different agent - and (apart from a decent stint at Spurs) he bounced around chasing the money throughout his career - the same reason he kept taking the Israeli blood money. By the time he was 30 he was a busted flush in the PL. There is no doubt the guy had talent - but he could have had a much better footballing career if he showed a little more intelligence and focused on football instead of all the other stuff.

That is just a disgraceful post. He had a career that very few other Irish players before or after matched. He was brilliant for us - and as a Premier League great (is he still in the top ten goalscorers list?). He went to the USA in 2012 and won a host of individual awards there and is revered by the LA Galaxy fans. You say he had a "stint" at Spurs yet he spent 9 seasons there scoring over 120 goals for them. The only mistake he made was joining Liverpool to work under a manager that didnt want him and the only bouncing around he did was chasing first team football because he just loved playing. The guy is a hero.

[jbyrne]

That is just a disgraceful post. He had a career that very few other Irish players before or after matched. He was brilliant for us - and as a Premier League great (is he still in the top ten goalscorers list?). He went to the USA in 2012 and won a host of individual awards there and is revered by the LA Galaxy fans. You say he had a "stint" at Spurs yet he spent 9 seasons there scoring over 120 goals for them. The only mistake he made was joining Liverpool to work under a manager that didnt want him and the only bouncing around he did was chasing first team football because he just loved playing. The guy is a hero.

not top 10 anymore but still a very impressive 17th.
we will probably never see the likes of him again in an Ireland short

[pineapple stu]

That is just a disgraceful post.

JRG seems to have a bee in his bonnet over Robbie for some reason. Even look at the pathetic comments on Keane's performance at Maccabi last year (on-field at least; engaging with Israel is a different matter...). It's in no way a rational or fair mindset. Best ignored, although I think your comment above is suitable too in fairness.

[samhaydenjr]

Redknapp managed nearly 1,500 games, meaning he handled thousands of players. It would be astonishing if there weren't "a few" [sic] who fell out with him; rather the point is how few didn't.

You know he didn't pick a brand new 11 every game, don't you?

[Jolly Red Giant]

JRG seems to have a bee in his bonnet over Robbie for some reason. Even look at the pathetic comments on Keane's performance at Maccabi last year (on-field at least; engaging with Israel is a different matter...). It's in no way a rational or fair mindset. Best ignored, although I think your comment above is suitable too in fairness.

I think that Keane was a very talented footballer that could have achieved more than he did if he wasn't chasing the money and the headlines. The best period of his career was when he was with Spurs (and that was really a couple of seasons) - when he had stability and wasn't looking for the next transfer because teams were not looking to sign him at the time - but he made several mistakes along the way - AC Milan, mistake - Leeds mistake - Spurs started well (Hoddle's style suited him), but then he started losing out to the likes of Dafoe and Mido. His best spell at Spurs was when he partnered Berbatov. Liverpool was a disaster (coupled with the fact that there was shenanigans with the transfer). His second stint at Spurs was poor (for a player who should have been at the peak of his career at the time) - he was too good for the SPL - and was poor at West Ham. His jaunt to the USA was for money and image - again he was a better player than the standard there.

For me he doesn't have the ability or smarts to be a manager - and he has shown nothing so far to suggest he warrants attention. A disaster with Kenny with Ireland and with Woodgate at Middlesbrough. Maccabi Tel Aviv is owned by one of the richest men in the world and they brought some of the best Israeli players in Europe back to the club for Keane - between 11-14 players are regularly in the Israeli squad. His relative success in Israel does not impress me - and the political criticism he has received is very much warranted.

Now - in footballing terms Keane does have a major challenge with Ferencváros because of the history of the club. It is possible that Keane will show he is capable - he won't have the same resources that he had in Israel.

Football in Hungary is at a very low ebb (attendances are not that far above LOI level) - the terraces, including at Ferencváros - are dominated by far-right and fascist ultras with racism and anti-Semitism rampant. The Ferencváros ultras take pride in their history as far-right supporters - and their main target is MTK, the only top flight club in Hungary not poisoned by the far-right (largely because some of its support comes from a working class Jewish community in Budapest - a bit of irony there that I am sure will go over Keane's head) - the club is owned by an English property developer and the President of the club is an MP for the far-right Fidesz party that rules Hungary. The ultras are also very hostile to Western Europeans - so Keane will not have much of a honeymoon period - the ultras will turn on him very quickly if he doesn't hit the ground running. Jensen was there for six months before he ran off to the US.

[tetsujin1979]

Y

I think that Keane was a very talented footballer that could have achieved more than he did if he wasn't chasing the money and the headlines. The best period of his career was when he was with Spurs (and that was really a couple of seasons) - when he had stability and wasn't looking for the next transfer because teams were not looking to sign him at the time - but he made several mistakes along the way - AC Milan, mistake - Leeds mistake - Spurs started well (Hoddle's style suited him), but then he started losing out to the likes of Dafoe and Mido. His best spell at Spurs was when he partnered Berbatov. Liverpool was a disaster (coupled with the fact that there was shenanigans with the transfer). His second stint at Spurs was poor (for a player who should have been at the peak of his career at the time) - he was too good for the SPL - and was poor at West Ham. His jaunt to the USA was for money and image - again he was a better player than the standard there.

For me he doesn't have the ability or smarts to be a manager - and he has shown nothing so far to suggest he warrants attention. A disaster with Kenny with Ireland and with Woodgate at Middlesbrough. Maccabi Tel Aviv is owned by one of the richest men in the world and they brought some of the best Israeli players in Europe back to the club for Keane - between 11-14 players are regularly in the Israeli squad. His relative success in Israel does not impress me - and the political criticism he has received is very much warranted.

Now - in footballing terms Keane does have a major challenge with Ferencváros because of the history of the club. It is possible that Keane will show he is capable - he won't have the same resources that he had in Israel.

Football in Hungary is at a very low ebb (attendances are not that far above LOI level) - the terraces, including at Ferencváros - are dominated by far-right and fascist ultras with racism and anti-Semitism rampant. The Ferencváros ultras take pride in their history as far-right supporters - and their main target is MTK, the only top flight club in Hungary not poisoned by the far-right (largely because some of its support comes from a working class Jewish community in Budapest - a bit of irony there that I am sure will go over Keane's head) - the club is owned by an English property developer and the President of the club is an MP for the far-right Fidesz party that rules Hungary. The ultras are also very hostile to Western Europeans - so Keane will not have much of a honeymoon period - the ultras will turn on him very quickly if he doesn't hit the ground running. Jensen was there for six months before he ran off to the US.

He signed for Inter, not AC. Defoe is spelt with an E. In the three seasons Mido and Keane were both at Spurs(04/05 to 06/07), Mido played 11, 27, and 23 games, scoring 3, 11, and five goals in each season. In the same seasons Keane played 45, 38, and 44 times, scoring 17, 16, and 22 goals. Nobody, anywhere, ever has thought Keane lost out to Mido.

Stephen Kenny famously didn't want Keane as part of his coaching staff, so whatever happened during his reign has nothing to do with Robbie

Average attendance in the Hungarian league last season was 4,187. That's a 20% increase on the in the league of Ireland average attendance of 3,490.

Finally, the coach didn't run out of there, he was headhunted by New York City FC to take over ahead of the 2025 MLS season.

[elatedscum]

Liverpool was a disaster (coupled with the fact that there was shenanigans with the transfer).

Any details on the 'shenanigans with the transfer'?