Martin Keown is an Arsenal Invincible and a club legend, but things could have gone very differently in his career.
The defender came through the Academy, but Keown departed Arsenal in 1986 after a contract dispute, before returning in 1993.
The England International was known as a fiery character, and he produced one of the most iconic moments of the Invincible season as Keown jumped on Ruud van Nistelrooy during a memorable draw with Manchester United.
Keown was known as a fiery character in his playing days, and Arsenal were fully aware of this when he came through the academy, with the former centre-back now revealing how he nearly got kicked out of the club as a youth player.
Martin Keown reveals fights with Arsenal legends David O’Leary and Kenny Sansom
Keown has now revealed that the Arsenal team in the 1980s would often fight, but the club threatened to kick him out after physical altercations with legends Kenny Sansom and David O’Leary.
“There were good people there, and there were also lots of red flags as well. I probably was a bit out of order in terms of what I saw,” Keown told the Peter Crouch Podcast.
“On my first Christmas do, I had been giving a bit of stick to David O’Leary a couple weeks before, and Kenny Sansom asked me outside for a scrap.
“Paul Marriner jumped in to say ‘no, we want the young players to express themselves and have a bit of banter, to have a bit of personality, what are you doing.’
“So there was always seemed to be these markers everywhere, and I’d be in some sort of scrap. I mean as a young player, they threatened to throw me out the club if I threw another punch, it was that bad.”
Keown eventually avoided further punishment and went to form a legendary partnership with Tony Adams, but it was not always plain sailing between the two.
Martin Keown had to compete with Tony Adams at Arsenal
Adams is now known as ‘Mr Arsenal,’ as a local boy turned club legend, and it was tough for Keown to break through into the team at the same time as him.
Keown has now revealed the competitive nature of his rivalry with Adams before they formed their partnership, and he has claimed that off-field factors were significant.
“I was kind of like on this mission, as the out-of-area player. I wasn’t a cockney, wasn’t from London,” Keown added.
“Tony Adams was the blue-eyed boy on the inside, and I was the out-of-town centre back, and I had to find a pathway.
“Myself and Tony talked about that, and how Tony admired that because he wasn’t going to stand back and tell me that at that point. We did have similar journeys, but they pitched us against each other a little bit.”
Keown went on to make over 400 appearances for Arsenal, and is held in high regard to this day, but in a volatile period at the club, he could have been kicked out as a result of his temper in an intense dressing room environment in the 1980s.
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