Manchester United
Despite the then-record transfer fee, there was no guarantee that Keane would go straight into the first team. Paul Ince and Bryan Robson had established a formidable partnership in the center of midfield, having just inspired Manchester United to their first league title since 1967. Robson, however, was 36 years old and in the final stages of his playing career, and a series of injuries kept him out of action for most of the 1992–93 season and into the 1993–94 season. As a result Keane had an extended run in the team, scoring twice on his home debut in a 3–0 win against Sheffield United, and grabbing the winner in the Manchester derby three months later when United overturned a 2–0 deficit at Maine Road to beat Manchester City 3–2.
Keane had soon established himself as a first-choice selection, and by the end of the season, he had won his first trophy as a professional as United retained their Premier League title. Two weeks later, Keane broke his Wembley losing streak by helping United to a 4–0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup Final, sealing the club's first-ever "double".
The following season was less successful, as United were beaten to the league title by Blackburn Rovers and beaten 1–0 in the FA Cup final by Everton. Keane received his first red card as a Manchester United player in a 2–0 FA Cup semi-final replay win against Crystal Palace, after stamping on Gareth Southgate, and was suspended for three matches and fined £5,000. This incident was the first of 11 red cards Keane would accumulate in his United career, and one of the first signs of his indiscipline on the field.
The summer of 1995 saw a period of change at United, with Ince leaving for Internazionale, Mark Hughes moving to Chelsea and Andrei Kanchelskis being sold to Everton. Younger players such as David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes were brought into the team, which left Keane as the most experienced player in midfield. Despite a slow start to the 1995–96 campaign, United pegged back title challengers Newcastle United, who had built a commanding 12-point championship lead by Christmas, to secure another Premier League title. Keane's second double in three years was confirmed with a 1–0 win over Liverpool to win the FA Cup for a record ninth time.
The next season saw Keane in and out of the side due to a series of knee injuries and frequent suspensions. He picked up a costly yellow card in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund, which ruled him out of the return leg at Old Trafford. United lost both legs 1–0, but this was compensated for by winning another league title a few days later.
After Eric Cantona's unexpected retirement, Keane took over as club captain, although he missed most of the 1997–98 season because of a cruciate ligament injury caused by an attempt to tackle Leeds United player Alf-Inge Haaland in the ninth Premier League game of the season. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Haaland stood over Keane, accusing the injured United captain of having tried to hurt him and of feigning injury to escape punishment, an allegation which would lead to an infamous incident between the two players four years later.
Keane did not return to competitive football that campaign, and could only watch from the sidelines as United squandered an 11-point lead over Arsenal to miss out on the Premier League title. Many pundits cited Keane's absence as a crucial factor in the team's surrender of the league trophy.
Keane returned to captain the side the following season, and guided them to a treble of the FA Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League. In an inspirational display against Juventus in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, he helped haul his team back from two goals down to win 3–2, scoring the first United goal. His performance in this game has been described as his finest hour as a footballer. Keane, however, received a yellow card after a trip on Zinedine Zidane that ruled him out of the final.
United defeated Bayern Munich 2–1 in the final, but Keane had mixed emotions about the victory due to his suspension. Recalling his thoughts before the game, Keane said, "Although I was putting a brave face on it, this was just about the worst experience I'd had in football." Keane sustained an ankle injury during the 1999 FA Cup Final, four days before the Champions League Final, which ruled him out until the following season. Later that year, Keane scored the only goal in the final of the Intercontinental Cup, as United defeated Palmeiras in Tokyo. He also finished sixth in the 1999 Ballon d'Or voting.
The following season saw prolonged contract negotiations between Keane and Manchester United, with Keane turning down an initial £2 million-a-year offer amid rumours of a move to Italy. His higher demands were eventually met midway through the 1999–2000 season, committing him to United until 2004. Keane was angered when club officials explained an increase in season ticket prices was a result of his improved contract and asked for an apology from the club. Days after the contract was signed, Keane celebrated by scoring the winning goal against Valencia in the Champions League, although United's defence of the Champions League was ended by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, partly due to an unfortunate Keane own goal in the second leg. He was voted PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year at the end of the season after leading United to their sixth Premier League title in eight years.
Keane caused controversy in November 2000, when he criticised sections of United supporters after the Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv at Old Trafford. He complained about the lack of vocal support given by some fans when Dynamo was dominating the game, stating, "Away from home our fans are fantastic, I'd call them the hardcore fans. But at home, they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch. I don't think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell 'football', never mind understand it." Keane's comments started a debate in England about the changing atmosphere in football grounds, and the term "prawn sandwich brigade" is now part of the English football vocabulary, referring to people who attend football games or claim to be fans of football because it is fashionable rather than due to any genuine interest in the game.
Keane made headlines again in the 2001 Manchester derby, when five minutes from the final whistle, he was sent off for a knee-high foul on Alf-Inge Haaland. He initially received a three-match suspension and a £5,000 fine from The Football Association (FA), but further punishment was to follow after the release of Keane's autobiography in August 2002, in which he stated that he intended "to hurt" Haaland. Keane's account of the incident was as follows:
I'd waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you cunt. And don't ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.
His admission that the tackle was a premeditated assault led the FA to charge him with bringing the game into disrepute. He was banned for a further five matches and fined £150,000 in the ensuing investigation. Despite widespread condemnation, he later maintained in an interview that he had no regrets about the incident: "My attitude was, fuck him. What goes around comes around. He got his just rewards. He fucked me over and my attitude is an eye for an eye", and said he would probably do the same thing again.
Haaland never played a full game afterwards. However, Haaland did complete the match and played 68 minutes of the following game. He also played 46 minutes of a friendly for Norway in between both matches. It was, in fact, a long-standing injury to his left knee rather than his right, that ended his career.
United finished the 2001–02 season trophyless for the first time in four years. Domestically, they were eliminated from the FA Cup by Middlesbrough in the fourth round and finished third in the Premier League, their lowest final position in the league since 1991. Progress was made in Europe, however, as United reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, their furthest advance since their successful campaign of 1999. They were eventually knocked out on away goals after a 3–3 aggregate draw with Bayer Leverkusen, despite Keane putting United 3–2 up.
After the defeat, Keane blamed United's loss of form on some of his teammates' fixation with wealth, claiming that they had "forgot about the game, lost the hunger that got you the Rolex, the cars, the mansion". Earlier in the season, Keane had publicly advocated the breakup of the treble-winning team as he believed the team-mates who had played in United's victorious 1999 Champions League final no longer had the motivation to work as hard.
In August 2002, Keane was fined £150,000 by Sir Alex Ferguson and suspended for three matches for elbowing Sunderland's Jason McAteer, and this was compounded by an added five-match suspension for the controversial comments about Haaland. Keane used the break to undergo an operation on his hip, which had caused him to take painkillers for a year beforehand. Despite early fears that the injury was career-threatening, and suggestions of a future hip-replacement from his surgeon, he was back in the United team by December.
During his period of rest after the operation, Keane reflected on the cause of his frequent injuries and suspensions. He decided that the cause of these problems was his reckless challenges and angry outbursts which had increasingly blighted his career. As a result, he became more restrained on the field and tended to avoid disputes and confrontations with other players. Some observers felt that the "new" Keane had become less influential in midfield as a consequence of the change in his style of play, possibly brought about by decreased mobility after his hip operation. After his return, however, Keane displayed the tenacity of old, leading the team to another league title in May 2003.
Throughout the 2000s, Keane maintained a fierce rivalry with Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira. The most notable incident between the two took place at Highbury in 2005 at the height of an extreme period of bad blood between United and Arsenal. Vieira was seen confronting United defender Gary Neville in the tunnel before the game over his fouling of José Antonio Reyes in the previous encounter between the two sides, prompting Keane to verbally confront the Arsenal captain.
The incident was broadcast live on Sky Sports, with Keane heard telling match referee Graham Poll to, "Tell him [Vieira] to shut his fucking mouth!" After the game, which United won 4–2, Keane controversially criticised Vieira's decision to play internationally for France instead of his country of birth, Senegal. Vieira, however, later suggested that having walked out on his national team in the FIFA World Cup finals, Keane was not in a good position to comment on such matters. Referee Poll later revealed that he should have sent off both players before the match had begun, though was under pressure not to do so.
Overall, Keane led United to nine major honours, making him the most successful captain in the club's history. Keane scored his 50th goal for Manchester United on 5 February 2005 in a league game against Birmingham City. His appearance in the 2005 FA Cup final, which United lost to Arsenal in a penalty shoot-out, was his seventh such game, a record in English football at the time.
Keane was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his impact on the English game and became the only Irish player to be selected into the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest living footballers picked by Pelé.
Keane unexpectedly left Manchester United by mutual consent on 18 November 2005, during a protracted absence from the team due to an injury sustained in his last competitive game for the club, caused by a robust challenge from Luis García against Liverpool. His departure marked the climax of increasing tensions between Keane and the United management and players since the club's pre-season training camp in Portugal when he argued with Ferguson over the quality of the set-up at the resort. Ferguson was angered further by Keane's admission during an MUTV phone-in that he would be "prepared to play elsewhere" after the expiration of his current contract with United at the end of the season.
Another of Keane's appearances on MUTV provoked more controversy, when, after a 4–1 defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough in early November, he criticised the performances of John O'Shea, Alan Smith, Kieran Richardson and Darren Fletcher. Of the club's record signing Rio Ferdinand, he said, "Just because you are paid £120,000-a-week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar." The outburst was deemed too damning by the United management and was subsequently pulled from transmission by the club's TV station. Keane's opinions were described by those present at the interview as "explosive even by his standards".
Keane scored 33 league goals for Manchester United and a total of 51 in all competitions. The first two of his goals for the club came in the 3–0 home win over Sheffield United in the Premier League on 18 August 1993, the last on 12 March 2005 in a 4–0 away win over Southampton in the FA Cup.
Two weeks later, after another row with Ferguson, Keane reached an agreement with Manchester United allowing him to leave the club immediately to sign a long-term deal with another club. He was offered a testimonial in recognition of his 12+1⁄2 years at Old Trafford, with both Ferguson and United chief executive David Gill wishing him well for the future.
Keane, in an interview with the Irish media company, Off the Ball, in September 2019, stated that Manchester United were pushing to get him out of the club because he was getting old and his strained relationship with then assistant manager Carlos Queiroz and later on with Sir Alex Ferguson, rather than the mere MUTV incident.
Keane's testimonial took place at Old Trafford on 9 May 2006 between United and Celtic. The home side won the game 1–0, with Keane playing the first half for Celtic and the second half in his former role as Manchester United captain. The capacity crowd of 69,591 remains the largest crowd ever for a testimonial match in England. All of the revenue generated from the match was given to Keane's favourite charity, Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
