On this day in 1999 (6 Viewers)

[skybluebeduff]

We signed Robbie Keane:

Who had the privilege like me to witness his debut against Derby?

 

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[Monners]

Me - he had class from day one

 

[coop]

Yes good times where did his transfer money disappear to.

 

[Monners]

Yes good times where did his transfer money disappear to.

Ask Inter Milan, they were behind the whole deal

 

[Winny the Bish]

His debut was my first ever City game. It's all been downhill since... Thanks Dad.

 

[skybluebeduff]

Yes good times where did his transfer money disappear to.

Why do you think Bryan was always smiling?

 

[Tonylinc]

That picture simply reminds me how I miss HR

 

[albatross]

i was there, he bossed the game that day , telling much more experienced players exactly where to play the ball

 

[Marty]

I was there, he was a class act from day one.

When we signed him didn't Alex Ferguson say it was a waste of money and he wouldn't have paid £100,000 for him?

 

[christonabike]

I was there with my old Dad he was a steward in those days I was in the family stand great days.
Still going with my old dad he is 84 now lost 4 stone due to cancer and has had his stomach more or less removed. He still says why can't we have the days of Ronnie Keane like the old days at HR?
Sorry Dad we are where we are but let's hope hey.
I've still got you you old git and it's a sad day when I come up here on my own.
PUSB

 

[Kingokings204]

We signed Robbie Keane:

Who had the privilege like me to witness his debut against Derby?

I was there, I was 11 in the west terrace. Great memories that day.

 

[singers_pore]

He's still class. He's the best player in the LA Galaxy team (closely followed by Ashley Cole). He makes Steven Gerrard look like a pub footballer.

 

[Gaz71]

Took my daughter to her first game, she was 5 and been a fan ever since.

 

[Gaz71]

Ask Inter Milan, they were behind the whole deal

Why didn't they buy him from Wolves at half the price ?

 

[italiahorse]

I was there.
Great striker but his sale started the rot.

 

[pw362]

I was there.
Great striker but his sale started the rot.

We bought Bellamy☺

 

[no_loyalty]

Funnily enough I was reading the match day program for this game last night, a quote about Keane signing from Chairman's chat page made me laugh

"He has a great future ahead of him and has already expressed his desire to play in the magnificent Arena we are creating in the city"

 

[christonabike]

We never owned him tho did we? GR and MM bought him and we payed his wages and all monies like £5M profit went to the board members If I remember rightly. Just a regular occurance in the good old days.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

I was there too. I can remember someone coming into the office where I worked and told us that he'd signed. Couldn't really believe that we'd paid £6 mill for a player at the time. Now I know we never really paid it did we.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

I was there, exciting times when I used to read the Telegraph and we were signing players who should never have been coming here like Hadji,Keane and Jarni.

 

[shmmeee]

Quality debut. It was like we'd picked Barcelona in FIFA and he was Messi, just a class above everyone on the pitch.

Deal was dodgy as hell obviously, but on some level I don't care, we got a very special player for a season. Which is more than we got from some of Richardson's other dodgy deals (Jarni).

 

[shmmeee]

I was there, exciting times when I used to read the Telegraph and we were signing players who should never have been coming here like Hadji,Keane and Jarni.

Remember some of the names linked as well? Gazza (well past his best), Van Nistlerooy, Nedved. Was a quality time to be a Cov fan, even if it was all built on sand.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

Remember some of the names linked as well? Gazza (well past his best), Van Nistlerooy, Nedved. Was a quality time to be a Cov fan, even if it was all built on sand.

I think Pirlo was as well.

 

[Hobo]

I remember arriving back at Birmingham Airport to the news we had signed him. What a joy!

Of course me and the wife saw his debut....fantastic display. Always rated him as a footballer and felt Liverpool gave up on him too soon.

 

[Joy Division]

Remember some of the names linked as well? Gazza (well past his best), Van Nistlerooy, Nedved. Was a quality time to be a Cov fan, even if it was all built on sand.

We tried to sign a young Thierry Henry too.

 

[fernandopartridge]

We signed Robbie Keane:

Who had the privilege like me to witness his debut against Derby?

Yes, he was a very exciting signing, unbelievable really that we'd beaten Villa (who had taken our talisman less than a year previously) to his signature.

 

[Calista]

I didn’t know too much about Robbie at the time we signed him, except that opinion was divided on him, and going along to the game was hoping we hadn’t blown £6 million on a duff player.

Within the first couple of minutes it was obvious he was pure class, and his debut goes down as one of the most memorable individual performances I’ve ever seen in a City shirt. With such great players in the team and the new stadium in prospect, it seemed like the sky was the limit. But as we all know, within about 2 years it had all gone terribly wrong.

 

[CJ_covblaze]

Funnily enough I was reading the match day program for this game last night, a quote about Keane signing from Chairman's chat page made me laugh

"He has a great future ahead of him and has already expressed his desire to play in the magnificent Arena we are creating in the city"

I still believe now that if Arena 2000 had been built when it should've been we wouldn't have lost him and several others. His partnership with Roussel was superb. Still don't know how he managed to put away his goals against Villa, Derby and Arsenal now.

 

[antjb]

in case anyone wants to relive the debut

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[antjb]

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Wheelfass]

At the back of the stand at half time I got into conversation with a couple who told me in a broad Black Country accent that they were Wolves fans (complete with Wolves scarves under their jackets) and that they had come see Robbie Keane on his debut. I told them that it might not be a good idea to tell anyone else who they supported and to keep their scarves tooked away and out of site.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

I still believe now that if Arena 2000 had been built when it should've been we wouldn't have lost him and several others. His partnership with Roussel was superb. Still don't know how he managed to put away his goals against Villa, Derby and Arsenal now.

I still believe that if we hadn't been relegated the year we were we would still be in the top league now but would probably be about 3 billion in debt

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

in case anyone wants to relive the debut

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Just watched it back and got me thinking about where we are now. We are in our position now as a result of what we were doing back then. Given the choice again would anyone want us to have spent so much money knowing we'd be where we are now?

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

Just watched it back and got me thinking about where we are now. We are in our position now as a result of what we were doing back then. Given the choice again would anyone want us to have spent so much money knowing we'd be where we are now?

Yes I think I would.

Looking at those players and the way they played fast flowing passing football sends a shiver down my spine, Keane was the best player I have seen for us at going round the goalkeeper and bellend was the worst.

It wasn't just the signing of the players that ruined us there was lots of money being wasted elsewhere.

 

[fernandopartridge]

I still believe now that if Arena 2000 had been built when it should've been we wouldn't have lost him and several others. His partnership with Roussel was superb. Still don't know how he managed to put away his goals against Villa, Derby and Arsenal now.

I have to politely disagree. We couldn't afford them and we couldn't afford to build the new stadium. We were racking of debt back then. Then again, Bryan Richardson claims that he was the broker of the deal to sell the land to Tesco, so maybe that money would have come the club's way in the end....who knows. Does Simon's book focus on any of the dealings at this time?