Football: Keown's belated chorus of approval

Kevin Keegan has nothing but praise for the talented centre-half feted by his club's fans.

IT IS always intriguing, when a team is warming up before the start of a game, to hear which players are singled out for their own special songs or chants. Wherever Arsenal play, Dennis Bergkamp, David Seaman and Patrick Vieira are quickly feted, while Emmanuel Petit appears to be disadvantaged by having a name that neither scans nor rhymes; it is never long, however, before a chorus of "there's only one Keee-own".

Most Highbury supporters have long recognised the value of Martin Keown, who first went to the club as a 12-year-old Oxford schoolboy and broke into the first-team at 19 before abruptly leaving for Aston Villa and Everton, only to return six years ago. His growing stature since then has convinced any doubters on the North Bank, sceptics in the media and now the England manager.

Kevin Keegan seems certain to put Keown alongside Sol Campbell against Sweden in Saturday's critical European Championship qualifier, just as he did against Poland, before pairing him with Rio Ferdinand in Hungary. "His performances in my two games have been everything you'd want and more," the manager said this week. "He's been absolutely outstanding, which got a bit lost against Poland. He was every bit as influential as Paul Scholes. Maybe in the past people have under-rated him."

Whether that was a gentle dig at previous England managers was not quite clear. Graham Taylor, to be fair, having worked with Keown at Villa, made him a regular international before the 1992 European Championship, where he partnered Des Walker throughout, but became tainted by the team's failure.

Terry Venables was clearly not a fan and Glenn Hoddle, after playing him in the last two warm-up games before the World Cup, left him stewing on the bench throughout the competition. Apart from Rio and Les Ferdinand, Keown was the only outfield player in the squad not to get on to the pitch during any of the four matches in France. It hurt. "I was in peak fitness and peak form," he said. "I felt like a boxer training for a title fight that was called off the night before. Looking back I got into really good shape and it was for nothing, really."

It may or may not have been a consolation to learn from Hoddle's infamous World Cup diary that he was pencilled in to man-mark the Netherlands' Marc Overmars in the next match had England beaten Argentina - especially as Overmars did not start the game. Now, however, after another outstanding season for Arsenal, he has played the last four internationals, under three different managers, and is clearly delighted with his present boss: "Players need stability and need to know who you're working for. It would have been a waste if he'd been lost to the team after four games. It's all very positive and enjoyable and for me, it's nice to have the full support of the manager."

Saturday will bring his 23rd cap, yet, remarkably, none one of them has been won alongside his friend and club-mate Tony Adams, who is taking an extended summer break. Both born in 1966 (in Keown's case, a week before the World Cup final) they go back together a long way; while the 13-year-old Keown, born and bred in Oxford, was making difficult journeys by public transport to schoolboy training sessions at Highbury, he found a gawky kid called Adams doing the same from Dagenham, equally determined to impress the Arsenal coaches that he was a centre-half for the future.

Later, Keown would occasionally stop over at the Adams household, amusing his defensive partner in the youth team by taking to the dance floor on his own at Ilford Palais. Yet according to Adams, he was never quite one of the gang, his own uncompromising determination to succeed eschewing too many distractions, as well as sometimes leading to harsh words and raised fists. "He usually had a fight once a week in training, he was so intense about his job," Adams recalled in his autobiography. "He once asked Don Howe if he could kick Charlie Nicholas, because Charlie was nutmegging him all the time."

If there was rivalry between them at Highbury, and still is at international level - would Keegan, for all his praise, leave Sol Campbell out and play both the Arsenal lads? - Keown is keen to stress that it has never affected their relationship. "I'm not in opposition with Tony Adams in any way. I get on better with him than at any time in my career. We made our debuts about the same time and we've always been good friends. There's never been a problem with him and I'd like to put that to rest."

Were Campbell to be injured at any time, it is comforting to the manager to know that he could rely upon such a vastly experienced club pairing if he wanted, all the more so since Keown is happier in a line of four defenders than with the back-three preferred by Hoddle. "I can play both, but from my point of view, a four gives you more opportunity to get forward. Three can easily become a five and you tend to get outnumbered [in midfield]. So I'm happy playing the same way as with my club."

There were mixed feelings as Arsenal's players, on tour in Malaysia, saw Manchester United, their conquerors in the Premiership and FA Cup, emulate last season's Highbury Double, then trump it with the European Cup. "We didn't really get to see much of the FA Cup final, but it went to form and United went on to win the treble," Keown said. "It was a great night for English football, but it was nothing to do with us really. You have to respect people's achievements. They went one step further than us and it was a big step. We're not a million miles behind them."

More important, he feels, is to translate United's success into something comparable for the national team, starting on Saturday. "Sweden put our nose out of joint [by winning in Stockholm]. We need to show them that it's not just our club sides that are the best in Europe, but that our international team can be, too."

A substitute on that occasion, he feels such a part of things now that a "Kee-own" chorus or two at Wembley would not sound out of place.