Name	Barclays Premier League
Pixels	150px
Country
Confed	UEFA (Europe)
Founded	20 February 1992
Teams	20
Relegation	Football League Championship
Levels	1
Domest cup	FA Cup
League cup	League Cup
Confed cup	UEFA Champions LeagueUEFA Europa League
Champions	Manchester United
Season	2010–11
Most successful club	Manchester United (12)
Tv	Sky SportsESPNBBC (Highlights only)
Website	premierleague.com
Current	2011–12 Premier League }}

The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier League is a corporation in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 38 matches each, totalling 380 matches in the season. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played during weekday evenings. It was known as the Premiership from 1993 to 2007. It is currently sponsored by Barclays Bank and therefore officially known as the Barclays Premier League.

The competition formed as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from The Football League, which was originally founded in 1888, and take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal. The Premier League has since become the world's most watched association football league. It is the world's most lucrative football league in terms of revenue, with combined club revenues of over £2 billion in 2008–09. It is ranked first in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years, ahead of Spain's La Liga and Germany's Bundesliga.

Since 1888, a total of 23 clubs have been crowned champions of the English football system. Of the 45 clubs to have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, four have won the title: Manchester United (12 titles) Arsenal (3), Chelsea (3) and Blackburn Rovers (1). The current champions are Manchester United, who won the title in the 2010–11 season.

History

Origins

Despite significant European success during the 1970s and early 1980s, the late '80s had marked a low point for English football. Stadia were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, and English clubs were banned from European competition for five years following the events at Heysel in 1985. The Football League First Division, which had been the top level of English football since 1888, was well behind leagues such as Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendances and revenues, and several top English players had moved abroad. However, by the turn of the 1990s the downward trend was starting to reverse; England had been successful in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, reaching the semi-finals. UEFA, European football's governing body, lifted the five-year ban on English clubs playing in European competitions in 1990 (resulting in Manchester United lifting the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1991) and the Taylor Report on stadium safety standards, which proposed expensive upgrades to create all-seater stadia in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, was published in January of that year.

Television money had also become much more important; the Football League received £6.3 million for a two-year agreement in 1986, but when that deal was renewed in 1988, the price rose to £44 million over four years. The 1988 negotiations were the first signs of a breakaway league; ten clubs threatened to leave and form a "super league", but were eventually persuaded to stay. As stadia improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the country's top teams again considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalise on the growing influx of money being pumped into the sport.

Foundation

+ Premier League champions	Season	Champions
align="center"
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"	Arsenal
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"	Arsenal
align="center"
align="center"	Chelsea
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"	Manchester United
align="center"	Chelsea
align="center"	Manchester United

At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal for the establishment of a new league was tabled that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League. The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from the Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League license to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe.

In 1992 the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League ''en masse'' and on 27 May 1992 the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company working out of an office at the Football Association's then headquarters in Lancaster Gate. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; the Premier League would operate with a single division and the Football League with three. There was no change in competition format; the same number of teams competed in the top flight, and promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the new First Division remained the same as the old First and Second Divisions with three teams relegated from the league and three promoted.

The league held its first season in 1992–93 and was originally composed of 22 clubs. The first ever Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United. The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon. Luton Town, Notts County and West Ham United were the three teams relegated from the old first division at the end of the 1991–92 season, and did not take part in the inaugural Premier League season.

Development

As of the end of the 2010–11 season, there had been 19 completed seasons of the Premier League. Due to insistence by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), the international governing body of football, that domestic leagues reduce the number of games clubs played, the number of clubs was reduced to 20 in 1995 when four teams were relegated from the league and only two teams promoted. On 8 June 2006, FIFA requested that all major European leagues, including Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga be reduced to 18 teams by the start of the 2007–08 season. The Premier League responded by announcing their intention to resist such a reduction. Ultimately, the 2007–08 season kicked off again with 20 teams. The league changed its name from the ''FA Premier League'' to simply the ''Premier League'' in 2007. The Welsh club Swansea City were promoted to the Premier League for the 2011–12 season. They were the first non-English team to compete in the Premier League. On 20 August 2011, the first Premier League match to be played outside England was between Swansea City and Wigan Athletic at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, Wales.

Corporate structure

The Premier League is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 20 member clubs. Each club is a shareholder, with one vote each on issues such as rule changes and contracts. The clubs elect a chairman, chief executive, and board of directors to oversee the daily operations of the league. The current chairman is Sir Dave Richards, who was appointed in April 1999, and the chief executive is Richard Scudamore, appointed in November 1999. The former chairman and chief executive, John Quinton and Peter Leaver, were forced to resign in March 1999 after awarding consultancy contracts to former Sky executives Sam Chisholm and David Chance. The Football Association is not directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the Premier League, but has veto power as a special shareholder during the election of the chairman and chief executive and when new rules are adopted by the league.

The Premier League sends representatives to UEFA's European Club Association, the number of clubs and the clubs themselves chosen according to UEFA coefficients. For the 2010–11 season the Premier League had 10 representatives in the Association. The European Club Association is responsible for electing three members to UEFA's Club Competitions Committee, which is involved in the operations of UEFA competitions such as the Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Competition format

Competition

There are 20 clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season (from August to May) each club plays the others twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned champion. If points are equal, the goal difference and then goals scored determine the winner. If still equal, teams are deemed to occupy the same position. If there is a tie for the championship, for relegation, or for qualification to other competitions, a play-off match at a neutral venue decides rank. The three lowest placed teams are relegated into the Football League Championship, and the top two teams from the Championship, together with the winner of play-offs involving the third to sixth placed Championship clubs, are promoted in their place.

Qualification for European competitions

As of the 2009–10 season qualification for the UEFA Champions League changes, the top four teams in the Premier League qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the top three teams directly entering the group stage. Previously only the top two teams qualified automatically. The fourth-placed team enters the Champions League at the play-off round for non-champions and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group stage. The team placed fifth in the Premier League automatically qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, and the sixth and seventh-placed teams can also qualify, depending on the winners and runners-up of the two domestic cup competitions. If one of the cup winners qualifies for Europe through their league position, the sixth-placed team in the Premier League will qualify for the Europa League unless a runner-up qualifies instead. If both of the cup winners qualify for the Champions League through their league position, the sixth and seventh-placed teams in the Premier League will qualify for the Europa League if neither runner-up takes a spot. If either domestic cup competition is contested between teams outside the top four league positions, the winner will automatically qualify for the UEFA Europa League regardless of their final league position, and the runner-up will not qualify. A further place in the UEFA Europa League is also available via the Fair Play initiative. If the Premier League has one of the three highest Fair Play rankings in Europe, the highest ranked team in the Premier League Fair Play standings which has not already qualified for Europe will automatically qualify for the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.

An exception to the usual European qualification system happened in 2005, after Liverpool won the Champions League the year before, but did not finish in a Champions League qualification place in the Premier League that season. UEFA gave special dispensation for Liverpool to enter the Champions League, giving England five qualifiers. UEFA subsequently ruled that the defending champions qualify for the competition the following year regardless of their domestic league placing. However, for those leagues with four entrants in the Champions League, this means that if the Champions League winner falls outside of its domestic league's top four, it will qualify at the expense of the fourth-placed team in the league. No association can have more than four entrants in the Champions League.

In 2007, the Premier League became the highest ranking European League based on the performances of English teams in European competitions over a five-year period. This broke the eight-year dominance of the Spanish league, La Liga. The top three leagues in Europe are currently allowed to enter four teams into the Champions League. Michel Platini, the UEFA president, had proposed taking one place from the top three leagues and allocating it to that nation's cup winners. This proposal was rejected in a vote at a UEFA Strategy Council meeting. In the same meeting, however, it was agreed that the third-placed team in the top four leagues would receive automatic qualification for the group stage, rather than entry into the third qualifying round, while the fourth-placed team would enter the play-off round for non-champions, guaranteeing an opponent from one of the top 15 leagues in Europe. This was part of Platini's plan to increase the number of teams qualifying directly into the group stage, while simultaneously increasing the number of teams from lower-ranked nations in the group stage.

Trophy

The current Premier League trophy was created by Royal Jewellers Asprey of London. It weighs , and is tall, wide and deep. Its main body is solid sterling silver and silver gilt, while its plinth is made of malachite, a semi-precious stone. The plinth has a silver band around its circumference, upon which the names of the title-winning clubs are listed. Malachite's green colour is also representative of the green field of play. The design of the trophy is based on the heraldry of Three Lions that is associated with English football. Two of the lions are found above the handles on either side of the trophy – the third is symbolised by the captain of the title winning team as he raises the trophy, and its gold crown, above his head at the end of the season. In 2004, a special gold version of the trophy was commissioned to commemorate Arsenal winning the title without a single defeat.

Sponsorship

The Premier League has been sponsored since 1993. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. There have been three sponsors since the league's formation. 1993–2001: Carling (FA Carling Premiership) 2001–2004: Barclaycard (Barclaycard Premiership) 2004–2007: Barclays (Barclays Premiership) 2007–present: Barclays (Barclays Premier League)

As well as sponsorship for the league itself, the Premier League has a number of official partners and suppliers. The official ball supplier for the league is Nike who have had the contract since the 2000–01 season when they took over from Mitre.

Finances

The Premier League has the highest revenue of any football league in the world, with total club revenues of €2.479 billion in 2009–10, and is the second most profitable after the German Bundesliga. In 2010 the Premier League was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Premier League was recognised for its outstanding contribution to international trade and the value it brings to English football and the United Kingdom's broadcasting industry. The Premier League's gross revenue is regularly the fourth highest of any sports league worldwide, behind the annual revenues of the three most popular North American major sports leagues (the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association), but ahead of the National Hockey League.

In terms of world football, the Premier League clubs are some of the richest in the world. Deloitte, who annually release figures on club revenues through its "Football Money League", listed seven Premier League clubs in the top 20 for the 2009–10 season. No other league has more than four clubs in this table. Premier League teams have dominated the list for many years, and even topped the list for almost a decade until the 2004–05 season. After the Premier League's new TV deal went into effect, the league-wide increase in revenues is expected to increase the Premier League clubs' standing in the list, and there is a possibility that a Premier League club will be top of the list.

Media coverage

United Kingdom and Ireland

Television has played a major role in the history of the Premier League. The money from television rights has been vital in helping to create excellence both on and off the field. The League's decision to assign broadcasting rights to BSkyB in 1992 was at the time a radical decision, but one that has paid off. At the time pay television was an almost untested proposition in the UK market, as was charging fans to watch live televised football. However, a combination of Sky's strategy, the quality of Premier League football and the public's appetite for the game has seen the value of the Premier League's TV rights soar.

The Premier League sells its television rights on a collective basis. This is in contrast to some other European Leagues, including La Liga, in which each club sells its rights individually, leading to a much higher share of the total income going to the top few clubs. The money is divided into three parts: half is divided equally between the clubs; one quarter is awarded on a merit basis based on final league position, the top club getting twenty times as much as the bottom club, and equal steps all the way down the table; the final quarter is paid out as facilities fees for games that are shown on television, with the top clubs generally receiving the largest shares of this. The income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs.

The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £304 million over five seasons. The next contract, negotiated to start from the 1997–98 season, rose to £670 million over four seasons. The third contract was a £1.024 billion deal with BSkyB for the three seasons from 2001–02 to 2003–04. The league brought in £320 million from the sale of its international rights for the three-year period from 2004–05 to 2006–07. It sold the rights itself on a territory-by-territory basis. Sky's monopoly was broken from August 2006 when Setanta Sports was awarded rights to show two out of the six packages of matches available. This occurred following an insistence by the European Commission that exclusive rights should not be sold to one television company. Sky and Setanta paid a total of £1.7 billion, a two-thirds increase which took many commentators by surprise as it had been widely assumed that the value of the rights had levelled off following many years of rapid growth. Setanta also hold rights to a live 3 pm match solely for Irish viewers. The BBC has retained the rights to show highlights for the same three seasons (on ''Match of the Day'') for £171.6 million, a 63 per cent increase on the £105 million it paid for the previous three-year period. Raidió Teilifís Éireann broadcast the highlights package in Ireland. Sky and BT have agreed to jointly pay £84.3 million for delayed television rights to 242 games (that is the right to broadcast them in full on television and over the internet) in most cases for a period of 50 hours after 10 pm on matchday. Overseas television rights fetched £625 million, nearly double the previous contract. The total raised from these deals is more than £2.7 billion, giving Premier League clubs an average media income from league games of around £40 million a year from 2007 to 2010.

The TV rights agreement between the Premier League and Sky has faced accusations of being a cartel, and a number of court cases have arisen as a result. An investigation by the Office of Fair Trading in 2002 found BSkyB to be dominant within the pay TV sports market, but concluded that there were insufficient grounds for the claim that BSkyB had abused its dominant position. In July 1999 the Premier League's method of selling rights collectively for all member clubs was investigated by the UK Restrictive Practices Court, who concluded that the agreement was not contrary to the public interest. The BBC's highlights package on Saturday and Sunday nights, as well as other evenings when fixtures justify, will run until 2013. Television rights alone for the period 2010 to 2013 have been purchased for £1.782 billion. On 22 June 2009, due to troubles encountered by Setanta Sports after it failed to meet a final deadline over a £30 million payment to the Premier League, ESPN was awarded two packages of UK rights containing a total of 46 matches that were available for the 2009–10 season as well as a package of 23 matches per season from 2010–11 to 2012–13.

Worldwide

Promoted as "The Greatest Show On Earth", the Premier League is the world's most watched sporting league, being broadcast to over 600 million people in over 200 countries worldwide, often on networks owned and/or controlled by NewsCorp, which owns BSkyB and thus the primary UK and Ireland TV rights. In the United States, coverage is shared between Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Soccer Plus and ESPN; NewsCorp sometimes buys pitch-side advertising boards with the Fox Soccer Channel logo replacing that of Sky. In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet owns the Premier League rights for three years from the 2010–11 season. In Australia, Fox Sports shows the games with a Viewers Choice option for up to five live games and up to nine games live on any given game-week.

The Premier League is particularly popular in Asia, where it is the most widely distributed sports programme. In India, the matches are broadcast live on ESPN and Star Sports. In the People's Republic of China, data from 2003 suggested that matches were attracting television audiences between 100 million and 360 million, more than any other foreign sport. However, when the Chinese rights to Premier League matches were sold to a subscription channel in 2007, the number of viewers proved to be in the tens of thousands. Due to its popularity in Asia, the league has held four pre-season tournaments there, the only Premier League affiliated tournaments ever to have been held outside England. The Premier League Asia Trophy has been played in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China and involves three Premier League clubs playing against a local team from the host nation, often the national side.

Figures from UK tourism body VisitBritain suggest that 750,000 visitors to Britain attended a Premier League match in 2010, spending a total £595 million and an average of £766. Visitors from Norway are most likely to come to watch Premier League football, with one in 13 Norwegian tourists travelling specifically to attend matches. Second on the list is the United Arab Emirates. For those visiting family and friends, the most likely to watch a football match are from Japan, China and Australia.

Criticisms

"Big Four" dominance

bgcolor="BADAFF">11 4 bgcolor="BADAFF" bgcolor="BADAFF" 3 bgcolor="gold" 2 2 2 bgcolor="gold" 2 bgcolor="gold" 2 4 4 3 4 3 4 16

+ "Big Four" since the start of the Premier League<		Season !! Arsenal F.C.	A !! C !! L !! MU
	10	|	6	1
1993–94 FA Premier League	1993–94	|	14	8	1
1994–95 FA Premier League	1994–95	12 ||	11	4	2
1995–96 FA Premier League	1995–96	5 ||	11	3	1
1996–97 FA Premier League	1996–97	|	6	4	1
1997–98 FA Premier League	1997–98	1 ||	4	3	2
1998–99 FA Premier League	1998–99	|	3	7	1
1999–2000 FA Premier League	1999–2000	|	5	4	1
2000–01 FA Premier League	2000–01	|	6	3	1
2001–02 FA Premier League	2001–02	1 ||	6	2	3
2002–03 FA Premier League	2002–03	|	4	5	1
2003–04 FA Premier League	2003–04	1 ||	2	4	3
2004–05 FA Premier League	2004–05	|	1	5	3
2005–06 FA Premier League	2005–06	|	1	3	2
2006–07 FA Premier League	2006–07	|	2	3	1
2007–08 Premier League	2007–08	|	2	4	1
2008–09 Premier League	2008–09	|	3	2	1
2009–10 Premier League	2009–10	|	1	7	2
2010–11 Premier League	2010–11	|	2	6	1
Top fourfinishes	|	11	12	19

A major criticism of the Premier League has been the emergence of the so-called "Big Four" clubs. Since Blackburn Rovers lifted the trophy in 1994–95, only three clubs have won the Premier League title – Manchester United (ten of the club's twelve titles), Arsenal and Chelsea (three times each). In addition, Manchester United have not finished outside the top three since the formation of the Premier League. From the 1996–97 season onwards, the "Top Four" (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) have dominated the top four spots, and thus places in the UEFA Champions League (qualification was one club for the first four seasons, increased to two clubs in 1997, three in 1999 and four since 2002). The benefits of qualification, especially increased revenue, are believed to have widened the gap between the "Top Four" clubs and the rest of the Premier League. As of the end of the 2010–11 season, Manchester United have finished in the top four the most often, having finished in the top four in all 19 Premier League seasons. Arsenal are second with 16 top four finishes, followed by Liverpool with 12 and Chelsea with 11.

In May 2008, then Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan said the "Big Four"'s dominance threatened the division, saying, "This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great leagues in the world." Following Keegan's comments, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore defended the league, saying, "There are a lot of different tussles that go on in the Premier League depending on whether you're at the top, in the middle or at the bottom that make it interesting." The dominance of Chelsea and Manchester United has led some to believe that the "Big Four" has contracted to a "Big Two"; no club other than these two has won the Premier League since 2004 and, , 20 of the last 27 major domestic trophies have gone to either Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford.

The years following 2009 marked a shift in the structure of the "Big Four" with two new clubs, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, vying for top four places to secure Champions League football. In the 2009–10 season, Tottenham Hotspur pipped Manchester City to finish fourth becoming the first team to "break" the top four since Everton in 2005. In 2010–11, Manchester City finished third – the first time a team has broken into the top three since Chelsea did so in the 2003–04 season.

Widening gap with lower leagues

One of the main criticisms levelled at the Premier League is the increasing gulf between the Premier League and the Football League. Since its split with the Football League, many established clubs in the Premier League have managed to distance themselves from their counterparts in lower leagues. Owing in large part to the disparity in revenue from television rights between the leagues, many newly promoted teams have found it difficult to avoid relegation in their first season in the Premier League. In every season except 2001–02 (Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Fulham) at least one Premier League newcomer has been relegated back to the Football League. In 1997–98 all three promoted clubs were relegated at the end of the season.

The Premier League distributes a small portion of its television revenue to clubs that are relegated from the league in the form of "parachute payments". Starting with the 2006–07 season, these payments are in the amount of £6.5 million over the club's first two seasons in lower leagues, although this rose to £11.2 million per year for clubs relegated in 2007–2008. Designed to help teams adjust to the loss of television revenues (the average Premier League team receives £45 million while the average Football League Championship club receives £1 million), critics maintain that the payments actually widen the gap between teams that have reached the Premier League and those that have not, leading to the common occurrence of teams "bouncing back" soon after their relegation. For some clubs, including Burnley, Leeds United, Charlton Athletic, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford City, Leicester City, Queens Park Rangers, Southampton, and Wimbledon who have failed to win immediate promotion back to the Premier League, financial problems, including in some cases administration or even liquidation have followed. Further relegations down the footballing ladder have ensued for several clubs unable to cope with the gap.

Clubs

A total of 45 clubs have played in the Premier League from its inception in 1992 up to and including the 2011–12 season. Seven clubs have been members of the Premier League for every season since its inception. This group is composed of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur.

The following 20 clubs are competing in the Premier League during the 2011–12 season.

0044th0099th01515th01414th0022nd0077th0088th0066th0033rd0011st01212th0222nd in the Football League Championship0211st in the Football League Championship01313th01010th0233rd in the Football League Championship0055th01111th01616th01717th

!Club	in 2010–11 in English football>2010–11	!First season intop division	!Number of seasons in top division	!Number of seasons in the Premier League	!First season ofcurrent spell intop division	!Top divisiontitles	!Last top division title
align="left"	Arsenala,b	|	1904–05	95	20	1919–20	13	2003–04
align="left"	Aston Villaa,b,c	|	1888–89	101	20	1988–89	7	1980–81
align="left"	Blackburn Roversa,c	|	1888–89	72	18	2001–02 FA Premier League>2001–02	3	1994–95
align="left"	Bolton Wanderersc	|	1888–89	73	13	2001–02 FA Premier League>2001–02	0	n/a
align="left"	Chelseaa,b	|	1907–08	77	20	1989–90	4	2009–10
align="left"	Evertona,b,c	|	1888–89	109	20	1954–55	9	1986–87
align="left"	Fulhamb	|	1949–50	23	11	2001–02 FA Premier League>2001–02	0	n/a
align="left"	Liverpoola,b	|	1894–95	97	20	1962–63	18	1989–90
align="left"	Manchester Citya	|	1899–1900	83	15	2002–03 FA Premier League>2002–03	2	1967–68
align="left"	Manchester Uniteda,b	|	1892–93	87	20	1975–76	19	2010–11
align="left"	Newcastle United	|	1898–99	81	18	2010–11	4	1926–27
align="left"	Norwich Citya	Championship||	1972–73	22	5	2011–12 Premier League>2011–12	0	n/a
align="left"	Queens Park Rangersa	Championship||	1968–69	22	5	2011–12 Premier League>2011–12	0	n/a
align="left"	Stoke Cityc	|	1888–89	56	4	2008–09 Premier League>2008–09	0	n/a
align="left"	Sunderland	|	1890–91	81	11	2007–08 Premier League>2007–08	6	1935–36
align="left"	Swansea Cityb	Championship||	1981–82	3	1	2011–12 Premier League>2011–12	0	n/a
align="left"	Tottenham Hotspura,b	|	1909–10	71	20	1978–79	2	1960–61
align="left"	West Bromwich Albionc	|	1888–89	73	6	2010–11	1	1919–20
align="left"	Wigan Athleticb	|	2005–06	7	7	2005–06 FA Premier League>2005–06	0	n/a
align="left"	Wolverhampton Wanderersc	|	1888–89	63	4	2009–10 Premier League>2009–10	3	1958–59

Birmingham City, Blackpool and West Ham United were relegated to the nPower Championship (old Div. 2) for the 2011–12 Season, whilst Queens Park Rangers, Norwich City and Swansea City were promoted to the 2011–12 Premier League. Swansea became the first Welsh side to ever gain promotion to the Premier League, after defeating Reading 4–2 in the 2011 Championship play-off final.

^a: Founding member of the Premier League ^b: Never been relegated from Premier League ^c: One of the original 12 Football League teams

Stadia

Premier League football has been played in 50 stadia since the formation of the Premier League in 1992. The Hillsborough Disaster in 1989 and the subsequent Taylor Report saw a recommendation that standing terraces should be abolished; as a result all stadia in the Premier League are all-seater. Since the formation of the Premier League, football grounds in England have seen constant improvements to capacity and facilities, with some clubs moving to new-build stadia. A total of nine stadia that have seen Premier League football have now been demolished. The stadia for the 2010–11 season show a large disparity in capacity: Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United has a capacity of 75,957 with Bloomfield Road, the home of Blackpool, having a capacity of 16,220. The combined total capacity of the Premier League in the 2010–11 season is 770,477 with an average capacity of 38,523.

Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for Premier League clubs. For the 2009–10 season, average attendances across the league clubs were 34,215 for Premier League matches with a total aggregate attendance figure of 13,001,616. This represents an increase of 13,089 from the average attendance of 21,126 recorded in the league's first season (1992–93). However, during the 1992–93 season the capacities of most stadia were reduced as clubs replaced terraces with seats in order to meet the Taylor Report's 1994–95 deadline for all-seater stadia. The Premier League's record average attendance of 36,144 was set during the 2007–08 season.

Managers

Managers in the Premier League are involved in the day to day running of the team, including the training, team selection, and player acquisition. Their influence varies from club-to-club and is related to the ownership of the club and the relationship of the manager with fans. Managers are required to have a UEFA Pro License which is the final coaching qualification available, and follows the completion of the UEFA 'B' and 'A' Licences. The UEFA Pro Licence is required by every person who wishes to manage a club in the Premier League on a permanent basis (i.e. more than 12 weeks – the amount of time an unqualified caretaker manager is allowed to take control). Caretaker appointments are managers that fill the gap between a managerial departure and a new appointment. Several caretaker managers have gone on to secure a permanent managerial post after performing well as a caretaker; examples include Paul Hart at Portsmouth and David Pleat at Tottenham Hotspur.

Only one manager, Alex Ferguson, has remained in his position since the formation of the Premier League in 1992. Arsène Wenger has been in charge of Arsenal in the Premier League since 1996, while David Moyes has been Everton's manager since 2002. The most recent appointment was André Villas-Boas of Chelsea. No English manager has won the Premier League; the five managers to have won the title comprise two Scots Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United, twelve wins) and Kenny Dalglish (Blackburn Rovers, one win), a Frenchman (Arsène Wenger, Arsenal, three wins), a Portuguese (José Mourinho, Chelsea, two wins) and an Italian (Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea, one win). Currently 15 of the managers are from the British Isles, with seven of them coming from Scotland and five from England.

The current managers in the Premier League are: {|class="wikitable sortable" ! !Name !Club !Appointed |- |}}||||Manchester United|| |- |}}||||Arsenal|| |- |}}||||Everton|| |- |}}||||Stoke City|| |- |}}||||Wolverhampton Wanderers|| |- |}}||||Tottenham Hotspur|| |- |}}||||Sunderland|| |- |}}||||Wigan Athletic|| |- |}}||||Norwich City|| |- |}}||||Manchester City|| |- |}}||||Bolton Wanderers|| |- |}}||||Queens Park Rangers|| |- |}}||||Swansea City|| |- |}}||||Newcastle United|| |- |}}||||Blackburn Rovers|| |- |}}||||Liverpool|| |- |}}||||West Bromwich Albion|| |- |}}||||Fulham|| |- |}}||||Aston Villa|| |- |}}||||Chelsea|| |}

Players

Appearances

Ryan Giggs holds the record number of Premier League appearances with a total of 573. He is one of only two players (the other being Sol Campbell) to have played in all 19 Premier League seasons. He is also the only player to have scored during each campaign and holds the record number of Premier League Champions medals with a total of 12.

Foreign players and transfer regulations

+All-time appearances	(Premier League appearances only)	!Rank!!Player!!Appearances
1		574
2	align="left"	572
3		535
4		503
5		491
6		488
7		466
8		463
9		460
10		441

At the inception of the Premier League in 1992–93, just eleven players named in the starting line-ups for the first round of matches were 'foreign' (players hailing from outside of the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland). By 2000–01, the number of foreign players participating in the Premier League was 36 percent of the total. In the 2004–05 season the figure had increased to 45 percent. On 26 December 1999, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up, and on 14 February 2005 Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match. By 2009 the average Premier League team had an average of 13 foreign players in their side with under 40% of the players in the Premier League being English. The effect of foreign players on the England national football team has been the subject of a long-standing debate with some such as José Luis Astiazarán, president of Spain's La Liga, suggesting that the high number of young foreign players is the reason behind the national side's lack of success at international football tournaments. Vicente Del Bosque, the manager of the Spanish national team, disagrees stating that he "didn't think it's damaging for English football to have people from abroad."

In response to concerns that clubs were increasingly passing over young British players in favour of signing less-expensive foreign players, in 1999, the Home Office tightened its rules for granting work permits to players from countries outside of the European Union. Currently a non-EU player applying for the permit must have played for his country in at least 75 percent of its competitive 'A' team matches for which he was available for selection during the previous two years, and his country must have averaged at least 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings over the previous two years. If a player does not meet those criteria, the club wishing to sign him may appeal if they believe that he is a special talent and "able to contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in the UK." One area where the Premier League's player registration rules are more restrictive than those of some other football leagues, such as those of Belgium and Portugal, is that academy level non-EU players have little access to English football by law.

Players can only be transferred during transfer windows that are set by the Football Association. The two current transfer windows run from the last day of the season to 31 August and from 31 December to 31 January. Player registrations cannot be exchanged outside these windows except under specific licence from the FA, usually on an emergency basis. As of the 2010–11 season, the Premier League introduced new rules mandating that each club must register a maximum 25-man squad of players aged over 21, with the squad list only allowed to be changed in transfer windows or in exceptional circumstances. This was to enable the 'home grown' rule to be enacted, whereby the League would also from 2010 require at least 8 of the named 25 man squad to be made up of 'home-grown players', defined as a player who:

Wages and transfer records

There is no team or individual salary cap in the Premier League. As a result of the increasingly lucrative television deals, player wages rose sharply following the formation of the Premier League. In the first Premier League season the average player wage was £75,000 per year, but subsequently rose by an average 20 per cent per year for a decade, £409,000 in 2000–01, £676,000 in 2003–04 season rising to £1.1 million for the 2008–09 season.

The record transfer fee for a Premier League has been broken several times over the lifetime of the competition. Prior to the start of the first Premier League season Alan Shearer became the first British player to command a transfer fee of more than £3 million. The record rose steadily in the Premier League's first few seasons, until Alan Shearer made a world record breaking £15 million move to Newcastle United in 1996. This stood as a British record for four years until it was eclipsed by the £18 million Leeds paid West Ham for Rio Ferdinand. Manchester United subsequently broke the record three times by signing Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastián Verón and Rio Ferdinand. Chelsea broke the record in May 2006, when they signed Andriy Shevchenko, from AC Milan. The exact figure of the transfer fee was not disclosed, but was reported as being around £30 million. This was surpassed by Manchester City's transfer of Robinho from Real Madrid on 1 September 2008 for £32.5 million. This fee was then surpassed twice on deadline day of the January 2011 window, first by Andy Carroll's £35 million move from Newcastle United to Liverpool. This was then beaten when Fernando Torres moved from Liverpool to Chelsea for £50 million. The Torres deal remains the British transfer record paid for a player. The record transfer in the sport's history had a Premier League club on the selling end, with Manchester United accepting an £80 million bid from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

Top scorers

+All-time top scorers in the Premier League	(Premier League goals only)	!Rank!!Player!!Goals
1		260
2		187
3		174
4		162
		149
	149
7		147
8		140
9		129
		123
	123
	123

Players in the Premier League compete for the Premier League Golden Boot, awarded to the top scorer at the end of each season, as well as for Golden Boot awards for the first person to score 10, 20 or 30 goals in a season. They can also compete for the informal competitions of Goal of the Month and Goal of the Season. Former Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer holds the record for most Premier League goals with 260. Shearer finished among the top ten goal scorers in 10 out of his 14 seasons in the Premier League and won the top scorer title three times. During the 1995–96 season he became the first player to score 100 Premier League goals. Since then, 18 other players have reached the 100-goal mark.

Since the first Premier League season in 1992–93, 14 different players from 10 different clubs have won or shared the top scorers title. Thierry Henry won his third consecutive and fourth overall scoring title by scoring 27 goals in the 2005–06 season. This surpassed Shearer's mark of three titles which he won consecutively from 1994–95 through 1996–97. Other multiple winners include Michael Owen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Didier Drogba who have won two titles each. Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer hold the record for most goals in a season (34) – for Newcastle and Blackburn respectively. Cole's record came in the 1993–94 season, while Shearer's came in 1994–95, both of which were 42-game seasons. Shearer's mark of 31 goals from a 38-game season in 1995–96 was equalled in the 2007–08 season by Cristiano Ronaldo. Five goals is the record individual scoring total for a player in a single Premier League game held by four players; Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov. Only Ryan Giggs of Manchester United has scored in all 19 Premier League seasons.

Manchester United became the first team to have scored 1,000 goals in the league after Cristiano Ronaldo scored in a 4–1 defeat by Middlesbrough in the 2005–06 season. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are the only other teams to have reached the 1,000-goal mark, with Tottenham being the latest team to do so after a Jermain Defoe goal on 23 April 2011.

The highest-scoring match to date in the Premier League occurred on 29 September 2007 when Portsmouth beat Reading 7–4..

Player and manager awards

In addition to the winner's trophy and the individual winner's medals awarded to players, the Premier League also awards the monthly Manager of the Month and Player of the Month awards, as well as annual awards for Manager of the Year, Player of the Season, Golden Boot and the Golden Glove awards.

10 Seasons Awards

In 2003, the Premier League celebrated its first decade by holding the 10 Seasons Awards:

Teams of the Decade:

* Domestic: David Seaman, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Steve Bruce, Stuart Pearce, David Beckham, Paul Ince, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen

* Overseas: Peter Schmeichel, Dan Petrescu, Jaap Stam, Marcel Desailly, Denis Irwin, Fredrik Ljungberg, Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Eric Cantona

* Overall: Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Marcel Desailly, Denis Irwin, David Beckham, Patrick Vieira, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Alan Shearer, Eric Cantona

Overall Player of the Decade – Alan Shearer

Domestic Player of the Decade – Alan Shearer

Overseas Player of the Decade – Eric Cantona

Goal of the Decade – David Beckham, 17 August 1996, Wimbledon v. Manchester Utd

Save of the Decade – Peter Schmeichel, 21 December 1997, Newcastle United v. Manchester Utd

Match of the Decade – Liverpool F.C. 4–3 Newcastle United F.C., 3 April 1996

Photograph of the Decade – Phil Noble (PA), 11 September 1999, Michael Owen of Liverpool miss against Manchester United

Commentator of the Decade – Martin Tyler of Sky Sports

Quote of the Decade – "I would love it if we beat them. Love it!", Kevin Keegan, 29 April 1996

Manager of the Decade – Sir Alex Ferguson

Outstanding Contribution – Alan Shearer

Contribution to the Community – Lucas Radebe

Most Appearances – Gary Speed (352)

Goalkeeper with most clean sheets – David Seaman (130)

Most Coaching Appearances – Sir Alex Ferguson (392)

10,000th Goal – Les Ferdinand, 15 December 2001, Tottenham Hotspur v. Fulham

Top Goalscorer – Alan Shearer (204)

See also

List of English Football League managers

Football records in England

References

External links

Category:Premier League 1 England Category:1992 establishments in England

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playername	Roy Keane
fullname	Roy Maurice Keane | dateofbirth August 10, 1971
cityofbirth	Cork
countryofbirth	Ireland
height
position	Midfielder
years1	1989–1990 |clubs1 Cobh Ramblers |caps1 12 |goals1 1
years2	1990–1993 |clubs2 Nottingham Forest |caps2 123 |goals2 22
years3	1993–2005 |clubs3 Manchester United |caps3 480 |goals3 51
years4	2005–2006 |clubs4 Celtic |caps4 13 |goals4 1
totalcaps	625 |totalgoals 75
nationalyears1	1991–2005 |nationalteam1 Republic of Ireland |nationalcaps1 67 |nationalgoals1 9
manageryears1	2006–2008 |managerclubs1 Sunderland
manageryears2	2009–2011 |managerclubs2 Ipswich Town }}

Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish former footballer and manager. In his 18-year playing career, he played for Cobh Ramblers in the League of Ireland, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, before ending his career at Celtic in Scotland.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of the Premier League era, Keane, a dominating central-midfielder, was noted for his aggressive and highly competitive style of play, an attitude which helped him excel as captain of Manchester United from 1997 until his departure in 2005, having first joined the club in 1993. Keane helped United achieve a sustained period of success in more than 12 years at the club.

He played at international level for much of his career, representing the Republic of Ireland over a period of fourteen years, most of which he spent as captain. He played in every game at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, although he was sent home from the 2002 World Cup after an incident with national coach Mick McCarthy.

During his first season as Sunderland manager, he took the club from twenty-third position in the Football League Championship to win the league and gain promotion to the Premier League. Keane's arrival was largely attributed as the catalyst for Sunderland's recovery. He managed to keep Sunderland from relegation in the 2007–08 season, but in his second season as a top-flight manager he left his position with Sunderland in the relegation zone. In April 2009, he was appointed as manager of Ipswich Town, but was sacked by the club in January 2011 with them 19th in the Championship.

Childhood and early career

Keane was born into a working class family in the Mayfield suburb of Cork. His father, Maurice, took work wherever he could find, which led to jobs at a local knitwear company and a Murphy's Irish Stout brewery, amongst others. His family were keen on sport, football especially, and many of his relatives had played for junior clubs in Cork, including Rockmount A.F.C. Keane took up boxing at the age of nine and trained for a number of years, winning all of his four bouts in the novice league. During this period he was developing as a much more promising footballer at Rockmount, and his potential was highlighted when he was voted Player of the Year in his first season.

Keane supported Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur as a child, citing Liam Brady and Glenn Hoddle as his favourite players, but as time progressed, Manchester United's Bryan Robson became the footballer he most admired due to the all-action, box-to-box style for which 'Captain Marvel' had become famous.

Cobh Ramblers

Despite his growing promise, a future career in football began to look uncertain. He was turned down from the Ireland schoolboys squad after a trial in Dublin; one explanation from former Ireland coach and scout Ronan Scally was that the fourteen-year-old Keane was "just too small" to make it at the required level. Undeterred, he began applying for trials with English clubs, but he was turned down by each one. As his childhood years passed, he took up temporary jobs involving manual work while waiting for a breakthrough in his football prospects. In 1989, he eventually signed for the semi-professional Irish club Cobh Ramblers after persuasion from Ramblers' youth team manager Eddie O'Rourke. Keane was one of two Ramblers representatives in the inaugural FAI/FAS scheme in Dublin, and it was through this initiative that he got his first taste of full-time training. His rapid progression into a promising footballer was reflected by the fact that he would regularly turn out for Ramblers' youth side as well as the actual first team, often playing twice in the same weekend as a result.

In the tough, physical world of the Irish First Division, Keane more than held his own against players much more experienced than himself, his dedication to training noticed by many. In an important FAI Youth Cup match against Belvedere FC of Dublin, Keane's performance attracted the attention of watching Nottingham Forest scout Noel McCabe, who asked him to travel over to England for a trial. Keane impressed Forest manager Brian Clough and his staff, and eventually a deal for Keane worth £47,000 was struck with Cobh Ramblers in the summer of 1990.

Nottingham Forest

Although delighted to have signed for a big club, Keane initially found life in Nottingham difficult due to the long periods away from his family, and he would often ask the club for a few days' home leave in order to return to Cork. Keane expressed his gratitude at Clough's generosity when considering his requests, as it helped him get through the tough early days at the club. Keane's first games at Forest came in the Under-21s team during a pre-season tournament in Holland. In the final against Haarlem, he scored the winning penalty in a shootout to decide the competition, and soon he was climbing the ranks at the club and playing regularly for the reserve team. His professional league debut came against Liverpool at the start of the 1990–91 season, and the resulting performance encouraged Clough to use him more and more as the season progressed.

}} He eventually scored his first professional goal against Sheffield United, and by 1991 he was a regular starter in the side, displacing the England international Steve Hodge. Keane scored three goals during a run to the 1991 FA Cup Final, which Forest ultimately lost to Tottenham Hotspur. In the third round, however, he made a costly error against Crystal Palace, gifting a goal to the opposition and allowing them to draw the game. On returning to the dressing room after the game, Clough punched Keane in the face in anger, knocking him to the floor. Despite this incident, Keane bore no hard feelings against his manager, later claiming that he sympathised with Clough due to the pressures of management and that he was too grateful to him for giving him his chance in English Football. A year later, Keane returned to Wembley with Forest for the League Cup final, but again finished on the losing side as his future club Manchester United gained a 1–0 win.

Keane was beginning to attract attention from the top clubs in the Premier League, and in 1992, Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish spoke to Keane about the possibility of a move to the Lancashire club at the end of the season. With Forest struggling in the league and looking increasingly more likely to be relegated, Keane negotiated a new contract with a relegation escape clause. The lengthy negotiations had been much talked about in public, not least by Brian Clough, who described Keane as a "greedy child" due to the high wages demanded by the Irishman. "Keane is the hottest prospect in football right now, but he is not going to bankrupt this club," Clough stated. Forest fans, however, forgave Keane by voting him the club's Player of the Season due to his battling performances towards the end of the campaign. Despite his best efforts, Keane could not save Forest from relegation, and the clause in his contract became activated. Blackburn agreed a £4 million fee for Keane, who soon after agreed a contract with the club.

There had also been speculation that Keane would sign for Arsenal, who were looking for a younger midfielder as eventual replacement for Paul Davis.

However, on the day before the paperwork was due to be signed, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson phoned Keane and asked whether he would like to join them instead of Blackburn. He was persuaded to cancel his agreement with Blackburn, and within two weeks he had signed for Manchester United for £3.75 million, a British transfer record at the time. In his autobiography, Keane revealed details of his conversation with a swearing and furious Kenny Dalglish, when he informed him the Blackburn signing was off.

Manchester United

Early years

Despite the huge transfer fee, there was no guarantee that Keane would go straight into the first team. Bryan Robson and Paul Ince had established a formidable partnership in the centre of midfield, having just inspired Manchester United to their first league title since 1967. Robson, however, was now 36 years old and in the final stages of his playing career, and a series of injuries kept him out of action at the start of the 1993–94 season. Keane took full advantage of his run in the team, scoring twice on his home debut in a 3–0 win against Sheffield United on 19 August 1993, and grabbing the winner in the Manchester derby three months later, on 7 November 1993, when United overturned a 2–0 deficit at Maine Road to beat Manchester City 3–2. He had soon established himself as a permanent fixture in Alex Ferguson's side, and by the end of the season, he had won his first trophy as a professional as United retained their Premier League title in May. 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, however, as United were beaten to the league title by Blackburn Rovers and beaten 1–0 in the FA Cup final by Everton. He received his first red card as a Manchester United player in a 2–0 win FA Cup semi-final replay against Crystal Palace, after stamping on Gareth Southgate, and, as punishment, was suspended for three matches and fined £5,000. This incident was the first of eleven red cards Keane would accumulate in his United career, and one of the first signs of his fiery temper leading to indiscipline on the field.

The summer of 1995 saw a period of change at United, with Ince leaving for Internazionale as well as striker 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 twelve-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 bitter rivals 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 UEFA 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.

Captaincy

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 dispute between the two players four years later. Keane did not return to competitive football that campaign. He watched from the sidelines as United squandered an eleven-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. He initially expressed doubts as to whether he would play again due to the severity of his injury, but he recovered in time to begin pre-season training for the new campaign.

Any fears that Keane's injury may have reduced his effectiveness as a player were dispelled in the 1998–99 season, when he returned to captain the side to an unprecedented treble of the FA Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League. One of his finest performances in this campaign was an inspirational display against Juventus in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, when he helped haul his team back from two goals down to win 3–2, a game regarded around Europe as one of the best performances on a football field in the modern era of European football. He scored from a header to start United's comeback and continually drove the team forwards at every opportunity. His performance in Turin has been described as his finest hour as a footballer. Earlier in the match, however, Keane had received a yellow card that ruled him out of the final after a trip on Zinedine Zidane. In the final, United defeated Bayern Munich 2–1 at Nou Camp, 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." Later that year, Keane scored the only goal in the finals of the Intercontinental Cup, as United defeated Palmeiras.

Contract negotiations dominated the landscape during the summer after the treble, with Keane turning down United's initial £2 million-a-year offer amid rumours of a move to Italy. His higher demands were eventually met midway through the 1999–00 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 interest in the competition 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 Football Writers' Association 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 December 2000, when he criticised sections of United supporters after the Champions League victory over Dynamo Kiev at Old Trafford. He complained about the lack of vocal support given by some fans when Kiev were 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 rant 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.

He made headlines again in the 2001 Manchester derby, a game in which Alf-Inge Haaland played. Five minutes from the final whistle, he was sent off for a blatant knee-high foul on the Norwegian in what was seen by many as an act of revenge. He initially received a three game suspension and a £5,000 fine from the 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.

An admission that the tackle was in fact a premeditated assault, it left the FA with no choice but to charge Keane 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 his autobiography 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."

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 UEFA 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, and after the defeat, Keane blamed United's loss of form on some of his team-mates' 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 he was fined £150,000 by 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 the disputes and confrontations with other players. Some observers felt that the "new" Roy 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. However, after his return, Keane displayed the tenacity of old, leading the team to another league title in May 2003.

Throughout the 2000s, Keane maintained a healthy 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 clearly 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 birthplace of Senegal. However, Vieira later suggested that having walked out on his National team in the 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 would lead United to 9 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 shootout, was his seventh such game, an all-time record in English football at the time. Keane also jointly holds the record for the most red cards received in English football, being dismissed a total of 13 times in his career. He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his undoubted 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.

Departure

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, due to 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 humiliating 4–1 defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough in early November, he took the opportunity to criticise the performances of John O'Shea, Alan Smith, Kieran Richardson and Darren Fletcher. The harshest analysis, however, was reserved for the club's record signing Rio Ferdinand: "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 had scored 33 league goals for Manchester United, and a total of 50 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 5 February 2005 in a 2-0 home win over Birmingham City in the Premier League.

Two weeks later, after another row with Ferguson, Keane reached an agreement with Manchester United allowing him to leave the club immediately in order to sign a long-term deal with another club. He was offered a testimonial in recognition of his twelve and a half years at Old Trafford, with both Ferguson and United Chief Executive David Gill wishing him well for the future. On 15 December 2005, Keane was announced as a Celtic player, the team he had supported as a child, after agreeing to a contract in the region of £40,000 per week.

It was later revealed by United that Keane's testimonial would take 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, the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

Celtic

Keane's Celtic career began in ignominious fashion in January 2006, when the Glasgow giants crashed to a 2–1 defeat to lowly Clyde in the third round of the Scottish Cup. His abrasive style had clearly not dwindled since his arrival, as he was seen criticising some of his new team-mates during the match. Keane scored what turned out to be his only Celtic goal a month later in a 2–1 Scottish Premier League victory over Falkirk. He retained his place the following Sunday in his first Old Firm derby, leading Celtic to victory in a typically combative Man of the Match performance. Celtic went on to complete a double of the Scottish Premier League title and Scottish League Cup, his last honour as a player.

On 12 June 2006, Keane announced his retirement from professional football on medical advice, only six months after joining Celtic. His announcement prompted glowing praise from many of his former colleagues and managers, not least from Alex Ferguson, who opined: "Over the years when they start picking the best teams of all time, he will be in there."

International career

When called up for his first game at international level, an Under-21s match against Turkey in 1991, Keane took an immediate dislike to the organisation and preparation surrounding the Irish team, later describing the set-up as "a bit of a joke." He would continue to hold this view throughout the remainder of his time spent with the national team, which led to numerous confrontations with the Irish management. Keane declared his unavailability to travel with the Irish squad to Algeria, but was surprised when manager Jack Charlton told him that he would never play for Ireland again if he refused to join up with his compatriots. Despite this threat, Keane chose to stay at home on the insistence of Forest manager Brian Clough, and was pleased when a year later he was called up to the Irish squad for a friendly at Lansdowne Road. After more appearances, he grew to disapprove of Charlton's style of football, which relied less on the players' skill and more on continuous pressing and direct play. Tensions between the two men peaked during a pre-season tournament in the United States, when Charlton berated Keane for returning home late after a drinking session with Steve Staunton.

Keane was included in Ireland's squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA and played in every game, including a famous 1–0 victory over tournament favourites and eventual runners-up, Italy. Despite a second-round exit at the hands of the Netherlands, the tournament was considered a success for the Irish team, and Keane was named the best player of Ireland's campaign. Keane, however, was reluctant to join the post-tournament celebrations, later claiming that, as far as he was concerned, Ireland's World Cup was a disappointment: "There was nothing to celebrate. We achieved little."

Keane missed crucial matches during the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification matches due to a severe knee injury, but came back to captain the team to within a whisker of qualifying for UEFA Euro 2000, losing to Turkey in a play-off. Ireland secured qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup under new manager Mick McCarthy, greatly assisted by a number of match-winning performances from Keane. In the process of qualification, Ireland went undefeated, both home and away, against international football heavyweights Portugal and the Netherlands, famously beating the latter 1–0 at Lansdowne Road.

2002 FIFA World Cup incident

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) selected the training base intended for use during Ireland's World Cup campaign. During the course of the first training session, Keane expressed serious misgivings about the adequacy of the training facilities and the standard of preparation for the Irish team. He was angered by the late arrival of the squad's training equipment, which had disrupted the first training session on a pitch that he described as "like a car park".

After a row with goalkeeping coach Packie Bonner and Alan Kelly on the second day of training, Keane announced that he was quitting the squad and that he wished to return home to Manchester due to his dissatisfaction with Ireland's preparation. The FAI were unable to get Keane an immediate flight home at such short notice, meaning that he remained in Saipan for another night, but they called up Colin Healy as a replacement for him. The following day, however, McCarthy approached Keane and asked him to return to the training camp, and Keane was eventually persuaded to stay.

Despite a temporary cooling of tensions in the Irish camp after Keane's change of heart, things soon took a turn for the worse. Keane immediately gave an interview to leading sports journalist Tom Humphries, of the ''Irish Times'' newspaper, where he expressed his unhappiness with the facilities in Saipan and listed the events and concerns which had led him to leave the team temporarily. McCarthy took offence at Keane's interview and decided to confront Keane over the article in front of the entire squad and coaching staff. Keane refused to relent, saying that he had told the newspaper what he considered to be the truth and that the Irish fans deserved to know what was going on inside the camp. He then unleashed a stinging verbal tirade against McCarthy: “Mick, you're a liar... you're a fucking wanker. I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person. You're a fucking wanker and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your bollocks.” Niall Quinn observed in his autobiography that “Roy Keane's 10-minute oration [against Mick McCarthy, above] ... was clinical, fierce, earth-shattering to the person on the end of it and it ultimately caused a huge controversy in Irish society.” But at the same time, he was also critical of Keane's stance, saying that "[He] left us in Saipan, not the other way round. And he punished himself more than any of us by not coming back."

None of Keane's team-mates voiced support for him during the meeting, although some supported him in private afterwards. Veterans Niall Quinn and Steve Staunton backed McCarthy in a press conference after the event. It was here that McCarthy announced that he had dismissed Keane from the squad and sent him home. By this time, the FIFA deadline for naming the World Cup squads had passed, meaning that Colin Healy was unable to be named as Keane's replacement and could not play in the tournament.

Recall

Mick McCarthy resigned as Ireland manager in November 2002 after defeats to Russia and Switzerland in qualification for Euro 2004. The possibility of Keane returning to the squad for future qualifiers was raised, as Keane had not yet fully retired from international football, insisting that McCarthy's presence was the main incentive for staying away from the Irish squad. McCarthy's replacement, Brian Kerr, discussed with Keane the possibility of a recall, and in April 2004 he was brought back into the Irish team to face Romania. Keane was not reinstated as captain, however, as Kerr decided to keep the armband with Kenny Cunningham. After the team's failure to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he announced his retirement from international football in order to help prolong his club career.

Post-retirement

Keane has reiterated his displeasure with the attitude and selection policy of the FAI. In March 2007 Keane claimed that several Republic of Ireland players get picked solely on the basis of their media exposure and that the organisation was biased towards players originating from Dublin or other regions of Leinster: "Once you keep playing them on the reputation they've built up through the media or because they do lots of interviews, then it's wrong. There's a fine line between loyalty and stupidity." Keane claimed that Sunderland player Liam Miller was not picked because he was from Cork and that players with significant potential were failing to get picked for the national team. He also alleged that the FAI were incompetent in the running of their affairs. Keane was involved in further controversy in the wake of Ireland's defeat by France in the World Cup 2010 play-off. During an Ipswich Town press conference on November 20, 2009, Keane was critical of the Irish reaction to the Henry handball incident. His response included criticisms of the Irish team's defence and the FAI authorities.

Managerial career

His former manager Sir Alex Ferguson had previously said that he wanted Keane to succeed him as Manchester United coach when he retired. However, in the wake of Keane's acrimonious departure from the club, Ferguson became evasive regarding Keane's prospects as a manager: "Young managers come along and people say this one will be England manager or boss of this club, but two years later they're not there. It's not an easy environment to come into, I wouldn't forecast anything."

Sunderland

During his time at Celtic, Keane was suggested as a potential managerial successor to Gordon Strachan by former Celtic player Charlie Nicholas. However, it was Championship club Sunderland where Keane chose to launch his managerial career, re-uniting him with the club's chairman and outgoing manager, Niall Quinn. The two men, publicly at least, were on opposing sides during the fall-out from the Saipan incident, but they were on good terms at the time of the managerial appointment, with Quinn urging Sunderland fans to "support and enjoy one of football’s true greats".

Keane signed a three-year deal immediately after Sunderland's victory over West Bromwich Albion on 28 August, the Mackems' first win of the 2006–07 season after a dreadful run of four consecutive defeats under Quinn's temporary management. With his new club sitting in the relegation zone already, second bottom of the Championship table, Keane chose to enforce changes quickly. His first actions as manager were deciding to keep the existing assistant manager, Bobby Saxton, and to appoint his former Nottingham Forest colleague Tony Loughlan as head coach. He wasted no time in bringing in new additions to the squad, with a total of six players signing on the final day of the August transfer window. The most notable signings were Keane's former Manchester United team-mates Dwight Yorke and Liam Miller, supported by former Celtic colleagues Ross Wallace and Stanislav Varga, as well as Wigan Athletic pair Graham Kavanagh and David Connolly.

Keane's first two games as manager could not have gone much better; first coming from behind to beat Derby County 2–1, followed by an easy 3–0 victory over Leeds United. Sunderland began to steadily creep up the league standings under Keane's management, and by the turn of the year they had escaped the bottom half of the league. Five further players were signed during the January 2007 transfer window, three (Anthony Stokes, Carlos Edwards and Stern John) on permanent contracts and two (Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson) on loan from Manchester United, Keane's old club. Results continued to improve, and Keane was rewarded with the February and March "Manager of the Month" awards, while his team began to challenge for the automatic promotion places. Meanwhile, Keane tackled his players' non-professional approach with a firm hand. When three players were late for the team coach to a trip to Barnsley, in March 2007, he simply left them behind.

Sunderland secured promotion to the Premier League along with Birmingham City on 29 April when rivals Derby County were beaten by Crystal Palace. A week later, the Coca-Cola Championship title was sealed, and Sunderland's revival under Keane was complete. His achievements also earned him the Championship "Manager of the Year" award.

The lowest point of their next season came at Goodison Park, where they were beaten 7–1 by Everton, which Keane described as "one of the lowest points" of his career. However in the second half of the season the team's form was much improved (especially at home) and survival in the division was guaranteed with two games to go with a home win against Middlesbrough. Meanwhile, Keane carried on his trend of buying ex-Manchester United players with the addition of Kieran Richardson, Paul McShane, Danny Higginbotham, and Phil Bardsley. He has also continued his strict disciplinary policy by putting Liam Miller (one of Sunderland's apparently more consistent players) on the transfer list for being regularly late for training and other team meetings.

The beginning of the 2008–09 season would prove to be tumultuous. In September 2008 Keane became embroiled in a row with FIFA Vice President Jack Warner over the withdrawal of Dwight Yorke from the Trinidad and Tobago national team. Warner accused Keane of being disrespectful towards small countries. Keane responded by calling Warner "a clown" and insisted that Yorke was retired from international football. That same month Keane experienced "one of the worst and longest nights" of his career when Sunderland had to come from 2–0 down at home in a League Cup tie against Northampton. The game ended 2–2, with Sunderland progressing narrowly on penalties.

Despite some positive performances, including the historic 2–1 home victory against local rivals Newcastle United on 25 October (the first time the club had accomplished this in 28 years), as well as good showings by recent signings like Djibril Cissé and Anton Ferdinand, the team's general form remained inconsistent. By the end of November, Sunderland were 18th in the Premier League, having lost five of their six previous games. Keane stood down as manager on 4 December after bringing doubt on his own future with comments made in the wake of the 4–1 home defeat by Bolton the previous weekend.

In an interview with The Irish Times on 21 February 2009, Keane cited differences with Sunderland 30% shareholder Ellis Short and strains with club chairman Niall Quinn as the factors in his decision to resign as Sunderland manager.

Ipswich Town

On 23 April 2009, Keane was appointed as the new manager of Ipswich Town on a two-year contract, the day after the club had sacked Jim Magilton. His first game in charge came the following Saturday with a 3–0 away win over Cardiff City – the final league match to be played at Ninian Park. The following week, Ipswich rounded off the season with a 2–1 win over Coventry. In the 2009–10 season Keane started to sign some players, some of them from his former club Sunderland. He signed goalkeeper Marton Fulop, midfielders Carlos Edwards and Grant Leadbitter and brought in Jack Colback, David Healy and Daryl Murphy on loan to the club. Ipswich started without a win in their first fourteen matches, making them the last team to record their first win in the whole league, finally winning on 31 October against Derby County and recording their first away win of the season on 29 November against Cardiff City. Their form gradually improved throughout the season, but Ipswich drew far too many games to come anywhere near the promotion race and they finished the season in 15th place. Keane was sacked as Ipswich manager on 7 January 2011.

Media work

Keane has done media work but expressed his lack of enthusiasm to do so again in future when he said, "I was asked last week by ITV to do the Celtic game," he said. "A couple of weeks before that I was asked to do the United game against Celtic at Old Trafford. I think I've done it once for Sky. Never again. I'd rather go to the dentist. You're sitting there with people like Richard Keys and they're trying to sell something that's not there." Keane added, "Any time I watch a game on television I have to turn the commentators off." Roy Keane along with Harry Redknapp and Gareth Southgate was a pundit for ITV at the Champions League final between Manchester United and FC Barcelona.

Personal life

Keane is married to Theresa Doyle, and they have five children: Shannon, Caragh, Aidan, Leah and Alanna. The couple met when she was a dentist's assistant and he was playing for Nottingham Forest in 1992. They married in Mayfield, Cork in 1997.

When Keane moved to Manchester United, the family lived in a modern four-bedroom house in Bowdon, then moved to a mock Tudor mansion in Hale. It was not as private as he had hoped, a point proven during his exclusion from the 2002 World Cup. Often seen walking Triggs (his Labrador dog), Keane was then a regular at the Bleeding Wolf pub, and was found there by reporters on the night of David Beckham's wedding. When asked why he hadn't gone, Keane joked: ''"It was a choice between the wedding and the Wolf – and the Wolf won."''

Wanting more privacy, his family had a 1930s home bulldozed so they could build a new £2.5 million house near Hale.

On 6 June 2009, it was announced that Keane and his family had purchased a new house in the Ipswich area, near to the training ground of Keane's new club, Ipswich. He eventually settled in the nearby coastal town of Woodbridge where he now lives with his family.

Dog

Keane had a Labrador Retriever named Triggs, whom he kept until its death in 2010. Triggs came to international attention in 2002 during an incident ahead of the that year's FIFA World Cup when Keane engaged in a public quarrel and left the squad. Triggs accompanied Keane on regular walks pursued by the press. The footballer said of Triggs: "Unlike humans, dogs don't talk shit". ''The Daily Telegraph''s Steve Wilson once described Triggs as "the most famous dog in football since Pickles, a mongrel who dug up the stolen Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966, or that dog that relieved itself on Jimmy Greaves at the 1962 World Cup". Hank Winter, writing in the same paper, called Triggs "the fittest dog in Cheshire" and opined that "if Cruft's held an endurance event, Keane and Triggs would scoop gold".

Following his rise to fame Triggs was mentioned by several sources on many occasions, with Keane dogged by numerous canine references for the remainder of his career. In 2006, when Keane moved house to Sunderland, his reunion with Triggs, who joined him later, came to the notice of the press. In 2007, Keane was reported to have heard of his team's promotion to the Premiership while walking Triggs. The following year, Keane was said to have acquired a German Shepherd Dog named Izac to accompany Triggs. Russell Brand observed the frequency with which Keane has been associated with his dogs, particularly when involved in the news – with quotes including "Keane will certainly have more time to walk his dogs", "The only real winners are Roy Keane's dogs", and "Roy Keane's dogs refused to comment on the situation" – before he googled "Roy Keane's dogs" only to discover it had more hits than "something with a lot of hits".

In later life, Triggs was involved in a police investigation. He appeared in an Irish Guide Dogs advertisement in 2009 - whereupon the ''Irish Examiner'' referred to him as "football's biggest canine celebrity" - and also received his own profile on Facebook. Triggs was described as a "celebrity" and a "household name" upon erroneous reports of her death from cancer in September 2010. Keane was described as "inconsolable". The ''Irish Examiner''s obituary noted how "At critical moments when the nation's happiness seemed entwined with Roy's moods, he turned to his Labrador Triggs and took to the road".

Honours

Player

Club

;Nottingham Forest

Full Members Cup (1): 1992

;Manchester United

Premier League (7): 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03

FA Cup (4): 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04

FA Community Shield (4): 1993, 1996, 1997, 2003

UEFA Champions League (1): 1998–99

Intercontinental Cup (1): 1999

;Celtic

Scottish Premier League (1): 2005–06

Scottish League Cup (1): 2005–06

Individual

FWA Footballer of the Year: 2000

PFA Players' Player of the Year: 2000

PFA Team of the Year: 1992–93, 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02

Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992–93 to 2001–02): Overseas Team of the Decade

English Football Hall of Fame: 2004

Premier League Player of the Month (2): October 1998, December 1999

FIFA 100

Manager

Club

;Sunderland

Football League Championship (1): 2006–07

Individual

Football League Championship Manager of the Month (2): February 2007, March 2007

Statistics

Player

1 !12!!1! 8 6 !114!!22!!9!!0! 6 2 6 2 2 2 5 2 3 0 3 1 0 1

Club	Season	League	Cup	League Cup	!colspan="2"	Other	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan="2"	Cobh Ramblers		12	|									12	1
!Total	!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!12!!1
rowspan="4"	Nottingham Forest		35	8	|								35	8
1991–92 Football League	1991–92	39	|									39	8
1992–93 FA Premier League	1992–93	40	|	9	0							49	6
!Total	!! !! !! !! !! !!123!!22
rowspan="14"	Manchester United		37	5	|	1	7	0	3	2	1	0	54	8
1994–95 FA Premier League	1994–95	25	|	7	0	1	0	4	1	0	0	37	3
1995–96 FA Premier League	1995–96	29	|	7	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	39	6
1996–97 FA Premier League	1996–97	21	|	3	0	2	0	6	0	1	1	33	3
1997–98 FA Premier League	1997–98	9	|	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	11	2
1998–99 FA Premier League	1998–99	35	|	7	0	0	0	12	3	1	0	55	5
1999–2000 FA Premier League	1999–2000	29	|	–		0	0	12	6	4	1	45	12
2000–01 FA Premier League	2000–01	28	|	2	0	0	0	13	1	1	0	44	3
2001–02 FA Premier League	2001–02	28	|	2	0	0	0	12	1	1	0	43	4
2002–03 FA Premier League	2002–03	21	|	3	0	2	0	6	0	0	0	32	0
2003–04 FA Premier League	2003–04	28	|	5	0	0	0	4	0	1	0	38	3
2004–05 FA Premier League	2004–05	31	|	4	1	1	0	6	0	1	0	43	2
2005–06 FA Premier League	2005–06	5	|	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	0
!Total	!326!!33!!46!!2!!14!!0!!82!!14!!12!!2!!480!!51
rowspan="2"	Celtic		10	|	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	13	1
!Total	!10!!1!!1!!0!!2!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!13!!1
Career total	!462!!57!!55!!2!!14!!0!!82!!14!!12!!2!!625!!75

|- |1991||3||0 |- |1992||7||0 |- |1993||9||0 |- |1994||8||1 |- |1995||2||0 |- |1996||2||0 |- |1997||7||2 |- |1998||3||2 |- |1999||4||0 |- |2000||4||0 |- |2001||7||4 |- |2002||2||0 |- |2003||0||0 |- |2004||5||0 |- |2005||4||0 |- !Total||67||9 |}

International goals

Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland 6 September 1997 5 September 1998 14 October 1998 24 March 2001 2 June 2001 6 October 2001

# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1	16 November 1994	|		4–0	Win	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
2, 3	|	Laugardalsvollur, Reykjavik, Iceland		4–2	Win	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>1998 World Cup qualification
4	|	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland		2–0	Win	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
5	|	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland		5–0	Win	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
6, 7	|	Nicosia, Cyprus		4–0	Win	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>2002 World Cup qualification
8	|	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland		1–1	Draw	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>2002 World Cup qualification
9	|	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland		4–0	Win	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>2002 World Cup qualification

Manager

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
!G!!W!!D!!L!!Win %
align=left
align=left

Updated on 7 January 2011.

See also

List of people on stamps of Ireland

Notes

References

;General

Roy Keane (2002), ''As I See It'', [DVD]

;Specific

External links

Career photos on BBC Online

BBC Wear – Roy Keane's first day on the job at SAFC

English Football Hall of Fame Profile

{{navboxes |title=Roy Keane – Navigation boxes and awards |list1= }}

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:People from Cork (city) Category:Republic of Ireland association footballers Category:Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in England Category:Expatriate footballers in Scotland Category:Association football midfielders Category:Cobh Ramblers F.C. players Category:League of Ireland players Category:Nottingham Forest F.C. players Category:The Football League players Category:Premier League players Category:Manchester United F.C. players Category:Celtic F.C. players Category:Scottish Premier League players Category:Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Category:Republic of Ireland international footballers Category:1994 FIFA World Cup players Category:2002 FIFA World Cup players Category:Republic of Ireland football managers Category:Sunderland A.F.C. managers Category:Premier League managers Category:English Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:FIFA 100 Category:The Football League managers

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