Founded 1865

Roy Maurice Keane

10/08/1971

NAT: Republic of Ireland

POS: Midfield

Previous Clubs: Cobh Ramblers

Joined Forest: 12th June 1990

Signing fee: £10.000 from Cobh Ramblers

Left Forest: 22/07/1993 £3.750.000 to Man Utd

Keane made his debut as a skinny dark haired kid from Ireland at Anfield and all the Forest fans knew instantly that they were witnessing the start of a legend. After that debut game Clough had him polish the teams boots 'just to let him know who was boss.'

From the start with his crucial tackles and pinpoint crossing around the pitch Keano played like a man beyond his tender years, showing an amazing football brain. In the 1991-1992 season Keane won the Barclays 'Young Eagle of the year' award.

He hardly gave a poor performance whilst playing in the Red for Forest, although once the rumours started about him leaving as Forest sank deeper into a relegation battle, the critiscm from the local press and the stands started to get to him a bit, but Keane stayed at the City Ground till the end of the season when he could have deserted the sinking sink in January. This however didn't prevent the City Ground fans booing his every touch when he returned in August 1994 with Manchester United in a 1-1 result after a great Collymore equaliser.

He went on to have a long and industrious career at Old Trafford before retiring in 2007 when he became manager of Premier League Sunderland where he started well before struggling, he now manages Ipswich Town in the Championship and is outspoken in the media on a wide range of footballing issues.