Wasn't Keane an amateur boxer before football?
Martin Keown (and friends) vs Ruud van Nistelrooy incident...
- Thread starter Rozay
- Start date
Horrible incident, horrible prick (Keown).
The thing that started the Ruud/Vieira incident always gets overlooked. A high ball came over where normally, both would have challenged. Not Vieira. All 6’4” of him decided to back down and instead, “made a back” for Ruud. One of the slimiest and most dangerous tricks in the game, usually resulting in the other player being turned in mid air and falls on his back. Ruud was obviously pissed off and was a bit careless where his feet went as both players got up. Vieira then lashed out as Ruud backed away. Typical behaviour of that team who had he worst disciplinary record in PL history yet we’re the biggest cry babies when on the receiving end. .. yet some sensitive souls, even some United fans amongst them, bleat about the Nevs kicking them. They didn’t kick hard enough. Team of cnuts who got away with murder.
More thuggish than the stoke of 4/5 years ago.
I concede, I didn’t like the Neville’s kicking them either. I would care less if we were the better side, but just kicking them to stand up for ourselves, but we kicked Reyes and co off the park the following year simply to close the gap as they were better footballers, which a I found hard to celebrate.
Ferguson was unstable, criminally so. But jones was more the bully boy sly dirty fouls type.
Exactly this.
Yet the abu types litter every vid on fb and YouTube threads with this invented nonsense of how he never tried it with x or y.
Even in that clip with shearer looking scared shtless some still engineer it to be keane bottling it.
We beat them 4-2 at Highbury a few months afterwards so we certainly proved capable of outplaying them. The October game was about making sure they know their place and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Couldn't have happened to a more perfect set of utter cnuts.
I don’t get it. Goes round punching and injuring means he’s just a thug not a hard man, not punching specific player x y or z means he’s a poser but a guy who did just kick punch and foul - vinnie jones or Duncan Ferguson? Now there’s a hard man. Mental gymnastics borne out of chips on shoulders about Keane’s character or punditry or success. Transparent nonsense
We outplayed them several times between 97 and 04. The notorious Reyes game seems to cancel out all others
Yeah, we played them three times in their Invincible season and they didn't beat us once.
And we were weaker that season. We beat them 6-1 in 00, a cracking 2-2 draw at Highbury in 03, and many other times. We rarely kicked them off the pitch we played very good football and could do the dirty side of the game too.
And in that 2-2 draw both their goals were offside and Campbell smashed Solskjaer in the face yet somehow we got the reputation of being the thugs who kicked the beautiful butterflies off the park.
Yea I understand that, but we weren’t in a position to put them in their place at that time. They had not been beaten in 49, and had an air of superiority about them, deservedly so. They played brilliant stuff, and us stopping their run saw the tide turn I think. They were undoubtedly the better side going into the October game.
Gosh, what a rivalry that was though! The Keown incident the year before. The thuggery followed by the Pizza of that October. Leading to the tension in the return match with the drama in the Tunnel. Then Arsène Wenger shortly fell apart and we beat them home and away as routine for a while I think.
It was media narrative at the time. Like the current city team being the best in premier league history
Well the City team of last season were almost certainly the best in PL history to be fair. At least a strong enough argument so as to not be dismissed as ‘media narrative’.
Keown was an inch taller than Shearer according to Google, and only a couple taller than Keane.
Viera was much taller but surely is an example in my favour as the suggestion Keane was intimidated by him is laughable
Good post.I went to Old Trafford for the United 5-1 Newcastle game just after the treble winning season. One of the stand out memories was seeing just how big Duncan Ferguson was. The guy was a giant. Not just tall, but stocky as well, broad shoulders, massive frame. The picture below is a different game and you can see how he is like a scaled up Rooney and Rooney is pretty broad.
Only 6ft 4, so still 3 inches less than Crouch, but the frame difference is significant.
Anyway so yes I cant see many could take on Big Dunc. Vinnie was about 6ft 1or2 as well and maybe even stockier so yes both of them would make 5ft10 Keane look like a couple of divisions below their fight category!
Using Duncan Ferguson as the threshold for “hard or not” is a very high bar to set! He’d beat up plenty of tough football players
Every time it's mentioned it really frustrates me too.
It is narrative. You can’t be considered one of the best ever off the back of one season, which was a weak season too, we came second. Win it this year they enter the discussion. And the narrative was stronger than that, the word dynasty was used every day, which is premature at best.
That’s true about the dynasty part. I just think title winning teams can be scored over a season against each other. Even one-off victories.
They broke the points and goals record, absolutely shattered it, they should be in a conversation regardless of what happens next I think.
Such a shame there's no rivalry today that's comparable in the PL. Morality aside, it's all kinda entertaining.
It’s a fair view, just not one I agree with. When you have teams that defended their title, went unbeaten, they all go in ahead. They beat the goals record by 3, points record by 5. It’s an amazing achievement- really impressive- but in actuality not more than about three draws and three missed chances from being something done before.
I seem to recall a few posters stating thereafter that Ruud was trained in martial arts, and if so he certainly could look after himself if desired.
I loved the story about a burglar breaking into his house in the middle of the night. Big Dunc wrestled him to the floor, sat on his chest and then repeatedly head butted the guy unconscious.
Cantona Albert episode?
What I hated most was Wenger’s interview after the game, he blamed Van Nistelroot for the entire insistent even though he just stood there whilst Arsenal players pushed him around. Even to this day Keown acts like Van Nistelrooy deserves what happened to him. Part of the reason I can’t take him seriously as a pundit.
Vieria kicked out at RVN which was definitely a yellow card which lead to him being sent off. And Keown definitely fouled RVN for the penalty. I still can’t work out why they were so wound up by his ‘antics’ that day.
Vieria kicked out at RVN which was definitely a yellow card which lead to him being sent off. And Keown definitely fouled RVN for the penalty. I still can’t work out why they were so wound up by his ‘antics’ that day.
Is your mate DT?
Especially as Liverpool are going to win the league. They will be the best team ever now according to the media. I mean Van Dijk is being called the greatest defender in Premier League history midway through one good season.
I don't get this "Not backed" business.
The Arsenal players ambushed him, but apart from a strange jumping in his face from Keown and a few little pushes, it wasn't that bad in the light of day.
United players quickly got in there and broke even that up.
It's not like when Keane utterly destroyed Haaland and none of the city players even dared speak to Keane let alone attempt to do anything.
Yeah it’s tiresome. I made a thread about this year when early in the season de bruyne was being called possibly the best pl midfielder ever and the current best in world. I got largely ripped apart, and de bruyne did in fact go on to have a great season and is a top player which was never in doubt. But it could have just been the latest buzz player, like Gabriel Jesus motd comment ‘best young player since messi’ last bloody October after a few goals. We can all be guilty of it sometimes but the media should have more foresight than the average punter. Usually they are worse though. So all rise to lord van dijk and watch Ferguson’s united era pales in comparison to the dominance we are witnessing from lord pep, who the media have told us we should be lucky to have in the pl.
Bizarre isn't it.
He'd missed a pen, was gutted, and through sheer professionalism and self restraint, managed not to make it worse by reacting and getting sent off.
Though I expect that would have pleased a few idiots amongst our support.
Albert was intimidating young Gary Neville, Cantona walked up behind him put his knees back of his knees and threw him to the ground and nonchalantly walked away.
It feels like many people are basing opinions on the limited video in this thread. There was the typical fisticuffs and united guys got involved, rvn scored a hat trick the following week and we all know what happened the next season.
I think you're right. Funny the perception on heights isn't it. I thought Shearer was just under 6ft, whereas Keown was a fair bit over. Seems not the case.
Anyone questioning Keane, or saying he "Bottled it" or "Picked" his battles must have a real anti United/Keane stance, or just not know what they were on about.
I think they also don't understand what a hardman role actually is.
It's not just looking to get into scuffles idiotically. It's standing up when the challenge comes your way, and never being found wanting.
Think they knew what Keano was like and it was hardly worth getting in his face. After all it was a red.
I've seen it on other videos, like when Beckham was taken out by Julian Dicks once.
"ohh Keane bottled that, didn't fancy it against Dicks"
Despite him being 60 yards away on the other side of the pitch!
Exactly that.
But that's what not backing your player looks like, not the Van Nistelrooy scenario.
Exactly they love a narrative. At the moment it’s Guardiola is a genius yet it could be 1 league title in 3 season spending millions more than his rivals. The greatest team in Premier League history but can’t retain the league title!