Arsenal legend Martin Keown interview on stellar career

The Oxford-born former England centre back, who also turned out for the likes of Aston Villa and Everton, has released his autobiography, titled On The Edge.

What it was like sharing a dressing room with a host of Gunners greats, plus his highs and lows in football, are addressed in the book.

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Long before becoming a Highbury hero though, Keown was a young grassroots player in Oxford, with his journey starting at Garsington FC.

He told this newspaper: “My mum and dad answered an advertisement in the Oxford Mail looking for footballers.

“There wasn’t a Cowley team at the time where we were, but there was a Blackbird Leys team and a Rose Hill team.

“I played as a centre forward for Garsington and scored lots of goals, and broke all sorts of records. I was also part of a team which won two league and cup doubles.

“It was when I moved to Rose Hill that the manager moved me to centre back, which later became very significant.

“At my upper school, Eric Metcalfe was my PE teacher, and my middle school teacher Nick Brown recently told me I took over the team talks at 12 years old. There was no amount of time that Nick would give up to the sport.”

Keown also credits George Wakefield at Garsington and Den Exell at Marston Saints, where he played alongside Garry Parker, who would go on to have a successful career of his own.

“My mother and father were my biggest influences. My father wasn’t a connoisseur of football, but he was on performance. He showed great faith in me and never doubted my ability,” said Keown.

Writing the book not only allowed Keown to reminisce on the glory times, but also reflect on the rollercoaster journey of a professional footballer.

He said: “There were many reasons why I wrote the book. My two sons felt it was right to put pen to paper, and the rise of awareness in dementia in football also played a part.

“I was determined to tell my story the way I saw things in the dressing room, which I shared with some of the best players that have ever played the game.

“The book was a compilation of myself, Alex Kay-Jelski, Maurice Gran and my wordsmith son Callum, formerly of the Oxford Mail.”

Keown, who joined the Arsenal academy in the early 1980s, had stints at Villa and Everton before returning to the Gunners in February 1993.

After more than 11 years in his second spell, he left with three Premier League trophies and the same number of FA Cup wins.

Keown said: “A strong set of principles took me away from and then back to the club where I had the most success.

“There were difficulties, and how I overcame them. I missed out on Euro 96, despite being the Arsenal player of the year that year.

“But then Arsene Wenger arrived, and he unravelled the coil of talent that I had. I owe him a great deal of gratitude for helping me to unearth the talent that was aways there, not to mention the great players he assembled around me such as Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira and Campbell.”

On The Edge has been published by Penguin Books and is available as a hardback or an e-book, or an audiobook.