'I was an Arsenal legend and one of the Invincibles – but I left the club over £50 dispute'

Arsenal legend Martin Keown left the Gunners in 1986 in frustration over a pay dispute before returning and becoming one of the club's greatest ever defenders in 1993

Martin Keown has revealed how he left Arsenal in fury after the club failed to give him a £50 pay rise.

Keown today is seen as one of the greatest centre-backs in Arsenal’s long and successful history. Having first joined the north Londoners on a schoolboy contract in 1980, he represented the club for over a decade across two spells.

He won three Premier League titles, one of which was the ‘Invincibles’ season in 2003/04, three FA Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup. But despite his status as a Gunners legend today, Keown left the club in bitter circumstances in 1986, before making his return in 1993.

The pacey defender got his big break during the 1985/86 season at the age of 19, playing alongside another young talent by the name of Tony Adams. With his initial contract expiring, he had expected to receive a decent pay-rise thanks to his first team displays, but was shocked to find out that Arsenal were only going to offer him £300 instead of the £350 he wanted.

The 58-year-old explained on the Rest Is Football podcast that he felt he was being unfairly and disrespectfully treated, pushing him to leave his boyhood club. He explained: “Don Howe had been the manager and he advised me not to sign the previous contract.

“I was basically being offered £250 first year and £300 in the second. Don said ‘if you get into the first team Martin, this £300 won’t be £300, it’s going to be way more. So just sign for the year’. So I did [initially only sign a year-long deal].

“I played 21 games in the first team and they offered me £300-a-week the next season, and it was like ‘hold on, Don’s now left the club, no one seems to recognise me in the building’.

“We played against Gary [Lineker’s] Everton right at the end of that season and I was told I was one of the two best young central defenders in the country along with Tony Adams. I referred to that when we were at the negotiating table a few months later.

“I said ‘I’m not looking for a fortune, just give me £100-per-week extra, not £50’ and they said ‘no way, can’t do it’. So it all became a point of principle. The day I met [new manager] George [Graham], it was really surreal, George was tapping his watch.”

Keown had a meeting with the Scot where they barely touched on the subject of his contract, leading the defender to say: “I’m off, I don’t know [where] but I’m not staying here, because you’re not showing the respect I deserve.'

“I literally jumped off the mountain at that point because I climbed a mountain to get in that first team, it was that difficult to get in.” He joined relegation-battling Aston Villa, which he immediately regretted.

Keown recalled: “I went on holiday, woke up and thought ‘what have I done?!’ All I ever wanted to do was to get in the Arsenal team.” Despite wanting to scrap his move, he was told to stick to his word by his dad.

The ferocious defender admitted that, on his first day at the Villa training ground, he looked around the building thinking “what have I come here for?” and that he “never gave Villa a chance”. Keown pointed out the lack of professionalism and lack of quality at Villa, who were relegated that season, before the defender helped them return to the top flight the following season.

Keown joined Everton in 1989, playing 126 matches across three-and-a-half seasons. His return to Arsenal came when the Toffees accepted a £2million offer in February 1993.

He went on to play a huge role in one of the greatest defences in English football history alongside Adams, Steve Bould, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn. Under Graham and later Arsene Wenger, he made 422 appearances across all competitions until his departure in 2004.

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