Robbie Keane
Born: 08 July 1980 (Tallaght, Ireland)
Join Date: 31 August 2002
Robbie Keane
2002-2011
Appearances: 306. Goals 112.
League Cup winner, 2008.
11th in the Club’s all-time goalscoring list.
With four clubs by the age of 20 – we became the fifth at 22 – legendary midfielder Glenn Hoddle, manager at the time, suggested Robbie Keane needed a home. He found one at Spurs.
The Republic of Ireland star was an instant hit with his energy, bundles of natural ability and eye for goal, not forgetting his trademark celebration. More than anything, ‘Keano’ loved playing football and that enthusiasm rubbed off on everyone.
Born in Tallaght, Dublin, Robbie made the huge life and career move to Wolves aged just 15. He scored twice on his debut against Norwich aged 17 and soon moved to the Premier League and Coventry City. His performances caught the eye of Marcello Lippi and Italian giants Inter, although his playing time at the San Siro was limited following Lippi’s departure. He joined Leeds United on loan, then permanently and then made the switch to N17 - stepping out at the Lane as a Spurs player in September, 2002.
But for a brief spell at Liverpool, he thrilled Spurs fans for the next nine years, captained the Club, became only one of 17 players to hit 100 goals for Spurs, reached 300 appearances and, most memorably, helped us lift the League Cup in 2008 having dispatched of Arsenal 5-1 in the semi-final, second leg.
The arrival of Dimitar Berbatov in 2006 led to one of the Club’s best striking partnerships of the modern era - ‘Keano’ and ‘Berba’ accounting for 91 goals in all competitions in 2006/07 and 2007/08.
Robbie departed for a new life in America with LA Galaxy in the MLS in 2011 and, naturally, tore the place up. He won three MLS titles and was named MLS and MLS Cup MVP in 2014. He stats are incredible – in over six seasons in the MLS, he scored 83 goals and claimed 45 assists in 125 regular-season appearances. His last move took him to India, initially as Teddy Sheringham’s main man at ATK, then a brief spell as manager following Teddy’s departure.
Internationally, Keano is untouchable for the Republic of Ireland, the Republic's record appearance maker with 146 caps and record goalscorer, 68, between 1998-2016, highlights including three goals in four matches at the 2002 World Cup finals.
Robbie announced his retirement in November, 2018 and having spent a short time on the Republic of Ireland’s coaching team, joined Middlesbrough as friend and former Spurs team-mate Jonathan Woodgate’s assistant manager in June, 2019
