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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Samuel Meade

Martin Keown's resolute stance on Battle of Old Trafford, record fines and wage issues

We're approaching two decades since the notorious Battle of Old Trafford involving Arsenal and Manchester United.

Martin Keown's role in the post-match brawl remains significant after he taunted Ruud van Nistelrooy following his late penalty miss.

The former Gunner though has no regrets over the incident, insisting the Dutchman's antics were the catalyst for what would ensue.

Arsenal and United were the Premier League's two major players at that point, with their games often going someway to deciding the destination of the title.

Arsene Wenger's team would go on to lift the trophy eight months later in May after completing an unbeaten season.

It could've been oh so different however had the Red Devils knocked over their rivals in just the sixth game of the campaign.

The contest looked set to end 0-0 with Arsenal no doubt happy with the point following Patrick Vieira's red card.

Martin Keown confronted Ruud van Nistelrooy at full-time (Getty Images)

But a foul on Diego Forlan presented Van Nistelrooy, normally so lethal from the spot, with the chance to clinch the three points.

His effort thundered off the bar however and the game ended goalless - but the main action was about to begin.

Tempers flared and once the dust had settled the FA charged six Arsenal players and handed out fines of £275k - which remains a record today.

Despite that Keown, whose own ban cost him dearly, wouldn't do anything different.

“People say, ‘do you regret it?’ I don’t really regret anything in my life,” he told talkSPORT in September.

“You look back and if it was right then, it was right now. When I make my decisions, that’s how I am.

“I don’t really enjoy what it might represent and then what it meant to the football club in terms of fines and in terms of suspensions.

“Lauren got four games, I got three games, Vieira got one game, (Ray) Parlour got one game – it’s unbelievable! You look back at it; £275,000 worth of fines. Little do people know that actually I was only earning 25 per cent was like a flat fee.

“The rest of it, the remaining 75% came in appearance money. So it was actually costing me far more.”

Parlour has joked that Keown was the main instigator.

The centre-half though insists Van Nistelrooy's role in Vieira's dismissal was the main reason for the post-match clash.

United's frontman is accused of making a challenge appear worse than it was which didn't sit well with the visitors.

“You have to go back all the way to Patrick Vieira being sent off," Keown added.

“Ruud van Nistelrooy feigns injury, you could say it was cheating, he goes down and Patrick Vieira gets sent off.

“Then after that, it was like the Alamo, because they saw they had a chance to win the game. They had a penalty, which you could argue wasn’t a penalty, which I am involved in.

“There was a few fingers pointed from my teammates, but he misses and then of course, he is the figure of hate really.

“We were only in that position we feel, because he got one of our colleagues sent off."

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