ENGLISH FA CUP FIFTH ROUND: Michael Walker talks to the veteran defender about the rivalry with Manchester United and "that" Cup goal by Ryan Giggs
Martin Keown did not say whether he had rapped on the door politely or pushed it open in the manner of Clint Eastwood entering a saloon in a one-horse town. Once through the door, though, Keown knew he was in enemy territory.
It was the Manchester United dressing- room, the date was April 14th, 1999, and Ryan Giggs had just scored one of the FA Cup goals of the century at Villa Park. Arsenal, the holders, had been knocked out in extra-time of a semi-final replay, and Keown and Tony Adams decided to cross the corridor to visit United's celebrations.
Both men were unsure of the reaction they would provoke and, nearly four years on, Keown said, "I don't want to go into that," about the United players' immediate response. "But I shook Alex Ferguson's hand and the hands of a couple of their players. I just wished them well. I think we took that defeat with great dignity, we went into their dressing-room and wished them all the best.
"It's just something we did. It's not something you'd do every week but we did it to acknowledge them. At Aston Villa the dressing-room doors used to be opposite each other so you had to walk past. You don't have to go out of your way."
Given that the managers of United and Arsenal, Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, often appear to go out of their way to wind each other up, the gesture by Keown and Adams was all the more magnanimous.
The two teams and two managers meet again this lunchtime, at Old Trafford, again in the Cup, and again with Arsenal as holders. Once again the two clubs are the best in England and once again they are chasing more than the Cup. But should the losing manager turn up in the opposition dressing-room this afternoon it would constitute a small football miracle.
"I think there is a healthy rivalry between the two teams, certainly on our part," Keown said on Thursday, the day after he received a £5,000 fine from the Premier League for a skirmish with Ruud van Nistelrooy at United in December. At 36, having first played at Old Trafford in 1985, an angelic innocent Keown is not. But neither is he the opposite:
"I think a lot of players think I'm a pain in the arse but then they meet me and realise it's a little bit different," he said. "I've never been one to be concerned how I look, or to smile at the camera. That's not my job. I'm not there to create an image."
Staring at the possibility of a third Arsenal Double in six seasons, and maybe a third visit of the season to Old Trafford in May for the European Cup final, Keown's longevity is silver-strewn. When Wenger arrived at Highbury, Keown was 30 and thinking about retirement. But he went to last year's World Cup, even if he did not get a kick. He said that he still thinks about the Giggs night, though, despite all his experience.
"I still can't believe it happened. The year before we'd won the Double and we were in the position of going for the double Double. The game was late in the season - April - so we'd kept that standard going for a very long time, challenging in both competitions.
"Looking back, it was a very significant win for Manchester United because they went on to become champions of Europe. We felt we were a very successful team and we could go on and win the league. But psychologically it gave them a lift. They were the team coming from behind. We set the standard the year before by winning the Double. They won the Treble.
"The year before we'd beaten them in two competitions, so it was a significant loss for us. I felt that if we had won something that season we could have retained the team we had. But that team really broke up then."
Giggs's rising run and shot over David Seaman acted as an emblem of the shift in power that took place between the two clubs that April day. Arsenal can hardly enjoy the goal's constant repetition, especially as Dennis Bergkamp had an injury-time penalty saved by Peter Schmeichel and Roy Keane was no longer on the pitch, having been sent off. But Keown calmly recollected Giggs's moment and offered a defender's insight into the split-second decision-making that leads to such events. Not many people remember Andy Cole's role; Keown does.
"I remember that when Giggs started to run with the ball Andy Cole made a run out wide of him. That's what took me wide, further out to the right than where I wanted to be. If I could have ferried him down the line it would have been easier. When Giggs got to the edge of the box, if I'd gone in, I was worried about giving away a penalty. He just kept going and going. It was a great goal for him. For them.
"But I think it just shows what great character we have. It didn't go for us on that occasion. We kept going in the league and it didn't go for us there. We picked ourselves up, reached the UEFA Cup final (2000). It didn't go for us there. Got to an FA Cup final (against Liverpool, 2001). It didn't go for us there. We kept coming second and losing out on finals we totally dominated.
"But we put all that to rest last year. We're sitting here now having won another Double. And we're going again. This club is full of winners and the group of players here have maybe taken it on to another level. There is still a hunger."
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