The scout report that helped Roy Keane seal a move from Cobh Ramblers to Nottingham Forest has been leaked.
Keane joined local football team Cobh Ramblers in 1989, shortly before his 18th birthday.
It was a humble start, but one that would propel the midfielder to Nottingham Forest and then Manchester United, where he became a seven-time Premier League champion and one of the most lauded players in English football history.
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Keane played 47 times for Cobh’s senior and youth teams, netting 11 goals. For the most part, he operated on the right flank rather than the central midfield birth that would become his specialist position.
Indeed, he finished his one season at St Colman’s Park winning the Player of the Year award from the club and supporters, and would soon seal a move to Nottingham Forest, who were then managed by Brian Clough.
And it all started with a scout report.
In February 1990 Cobh’s under-18s travelled to Dublin to face Belvedere in a youth cup tie and Forest scout Noel McCabe attended the match to watch left-winger Jamie Cullimore.
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While, as per the Athletic, Cullimore had a poor game in a 4-0 defeat and eventually ended up as a postman, McCabe was struck by the performance of a young Keane.
McCabe’s scouting report from that day, reproduced by the Athletic, contained several prophetic insights on the future United skipper.
Keane, he writes, “showed me he has good skill and vision in finding players with his passes. He is aggressive with his tackling and involved in all activity around the middle of the park. His pace is very good and he loved taking on players and going for the back line.”
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McCabe went on to praise Keane’s crossing and despite a popular narrative about the midfielder needing to grow a few inches, the scout noted his upper-body strength.
He concluded: “He is, in my opinion, a player to go on trial to Forest. Right away.”
Speaking about that fateful day, McCabe explained: “I went to see Cullimore but to me, he was ordinary, no standout ability, and the one thing I knew was that you had to be better than ordinary to make it in England.
“What struck me about Roy was his ability to go past players. He did it with ease, which was rare then and even rarer now. I spoke to his manager, got a number for the lad and arranged to meet him at the Ashling Hotel in Dublin.
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“We had a good conversation and I told him I wanted to get him a trial at Nottingham Forest. He’d never had a trial anywhere and I found that surprising. He gave me the impression that he’d swim to England to become a footballer.”
Of course, the rest is history.
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Featured Image Credit: Getty/The AthleticTopics: Football, Roy Keane, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest