Mick: Keane is a world beater

Thursday 10th December 2009, 11:30AM GMT.

robbiekeane1Mick McCarthy today kicked off the countdown to Saturday’s trip to Tottenham by declaring their ex-Wolves star Robbie Keane “world class” – but dismissed any chance of a return to Molineux.

Some 11 years after McCarthy handed Keane his Republic of Ireland debut as a Wolves boy wonder, the 29-year-old Spurs striker is sweating on facing the club where he started his glorious career because of the form of 13-goal Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch.

But having seen Keane blossom from teenage prodigy to international captain and record goalscorer, McCarthy is in no doubt as to the Dubliner’s quality.

“World class, great and brilliant are wonderful terminologies, but he’s proved he can play at that level,” he said.

“He’s played and scored at a World Cup, so if you do that and score that many for your country, no matter who it’s against, you can call him that.

“To score that many as well takes some doing as well because he’s not an out and out striker either, he drops in holes and he drags people about.

“But he’s been world class for Ireland, that’s for sure.

“He’s one of the best I managed and coached.”

The prospect of Keane facing Wolves again when he can’t be sure of a regular start at Spurs has sparked speculation he could move again in January.

That scenario has had the more romantic among the Molineux masses dreaming of Keane’s return on loan to inspire Wolves’ survival bid, with many believing he has unfinished business at a club for whom he has never hidden his fondness.

But with Keane’s earnings said to be around £70,000 a week, McCarthy laughed off the suggestion, saying: “You’d better ask him that! There’s no chance of him coming back in January unless we’re playing them next month!”

McCarthy admires Keane’s qualities as much as any Wolves fan however.

“I picked him for his full international debut when he was 18,” he said.

“There was also never any danger of him not breaking the goalscoring record for Ireland – that was always nailed on.”


  1. 1
    moxleywolves

    Robbie Keane is one of the only players i would pay 70k per week to bring back to wolves the club that made him the player he is today,
    I would give spurs a couple of million to have him on loan till the end of the season.
    I would love to see him in the old gold and black again SO COME THE 3 M’s AND MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!

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  2. 2
    WolfyTor

    See Peoples Wake up and Smell the coffee!! No chance of Keano coming back, as much as we all would love it. He wants at least European Football,and his wages are to high.

    We need experience, but affordable how about James Beattie, Dietar Hahmann wherever he is?? Sol Campbell if the Man Utd thing is pie in the sky??

    Lets remember we are team fihghting to stay in the Premier not get into Europe, lets be realistic.

    By the way Doyle and Keogh by far the best option we have up front as a PARTNERSHIP!! SEB to lazy, leave him on the bench – he wont, but I would even try and get some money for him in January while we can. He aint good enough for this division, i was one of his biggest fans last year but we have to move on up and unfortunately SEB hasnt.

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  3. 3
    WHO R WBA?????????

    Why can’t we have him back Mick? He is Irish after all said and done and he will put in a “shift”

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  4. 4
    Bullseye

    It would be showing to much ambition if resigned Robbie Keane. Just the sort of player we need right now. Proven premiership experience doesn’t come cheap Moxey/Morgan! Maybe some of the dozy fickle twits who write on here will finally wake up and smell the coffee.

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  5. 5
    John Platt

    As a Spurs fan all this talk of Robbie leaving makes me laugh. He has been on the bench for the last couple of games…thats 2 games not 22!!! I believe Harry will play him with Defoe this weekend.. and I guarantee he will score!

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  6. 6
    JD

    SIGN HIM UP!!!!! PLEASE !!!!!!!!

    No chance, i know

    BUT PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!

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  7. 7
    john De wolf

    Keane’s a bargain even at £70k a week!

    Sadly the board will never sanction a move like that. Instead we’ll probably get relegated. Ambition Moxey? Yeah right.

    Keane would practically guarantee premiership survival. Even a loan move in Jan would be worth the approx £1.5M in wages, if it meant we stayed up.

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  8. 8
    chrissywissywolf

    would absolutely love to see him back.

    I would like to see a big load signing in Jan…either a striker/winger/creative midfielder – suggestions?

    I hope sat isn’t as dull as this, although I would take the result

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMAsyP_–ds

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  9. 9
    derek

    lads im a avid wolves fan myself but i live on this earth not fullers. we cant afford him were a tin pot club in a league thats far out of our depth. so lets get real perhaps 1 year before he retires is the best we can ever hope for.

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  10. 10
    laughingwolf

    2. I hope Keano talks to Mick on Saturday after the game. Spurs have paid 80% of O’Haras wages at Pompey. They wont loan him to Villa who are their reivals for champions league etc, Celtic are in financial meltdown get him back at the mol. A loan and if we stay up we will pay 10mil for him? His quality is very rare and if we stay up we have to build and go forward. He loves the club and the fans and we love him, he enjoyed scoring against the tescos last season!

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  11. 11
    Worcester Spur

    As a Spurs fan all this talk about Robbie leaving or going on loan makes me laugh. He has been on the bench for the last couple of games… thats 2 not 22!! He is definately in Harrys plans and I reckon he will start with Defoe on Saturday….and score!!

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  12. 12
    Wolfatgate

    Concentrate on Wolves Mick not Ireland ! Your management of Ireland is in the past move on.

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  13. 13
    DiscoStu

    £70k multiplied by 20 weeks = £1.4m (dont know if spurs would want an initial fee as well??)

    If that keeps us up, then it would be money well spent.

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  14. 14
    Wallop

    Not in the same class as Defoe. Failed at Liverpool, he is an average Premiership player who has one good game out of every seven. He will fit right in at the Custard Bowl again. Shame you can’t afford him!

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  15. 15
    jackery jones

    Wheeler-Dealer Redknapp will let Keane go in January as a straight swap for one of our players – Hennessey?

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  16. 16
    Robert Perry

    We will never sign Keane while Moxey is in charge or any player like him.The extent of the club’s ambition will be shown by the players we buy(not rumoured to buy)in the January window. The person I would go for is Beattie from Stoke as he might be availableafter his bust up with Pulis

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  17. 17
    Woollwy

    I Would rather £1.5 million on Keano’s wages for 5 months and stay up than pay £6 million on Bexford – but knowing Moxey neither will happen!!

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  18. 18
    pablo

    Keano will be back to his true home at some point – but we wont see him for a couple of years. Why would Spurs want him to go anywhere? No one suggests that Berbatov is looking to move on because he warms the bench at man utd! Spurs will be champions league this year which means they will want to keep their best players. For me Keane is the best forward in British football.

    I still get a little angry that McGhee left Keane and Steve Bull on the bench for the FA semi final against Arsenal – what the hell was he thinkning about!!!!

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  19. 19
    brummierobwolves

    14) Your opinion counts for nothing. Who is your star striker… Luke Moore?
    Defoe is on fire at present but is nowhere near Keane on the international scale.
    Forget about signing him. He will not be sold but the Russian will!

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  20. 20
    wembley 74

    Forget all this ‘smell the coffee’ we cant have Keane back crap. Why not? That type of thinking’s for losers. Do we want to finally kick on at this level or what? His wages pale into minsignificance when you think that his goals (and the ‘lift’ he would give the team) would provide £30-40 million premier revenue next season. or are we destined to think small time forever? what about the millions hayward wasted in the past on million pound players in the comfort zone who all left on free’s? We couldn’t afford them either! At least Keane represents value. Sir Alex said in his programme notes that he was in awe of Wolves as a kid in the 50′s and that the club could be great again ‘IF ONLY SOMEBODY WOULD TAKE IT BY THE SCRUFF OF THE NECK!!’ Unfortunatly the 3 M’s dont have the bottle do they? Oh for a Sir Alex or a Cloughie or Shankly at the club. There’s still no ambition is there? I mean REAL ambition. Small men trying to run a big club with massive potential still. I suppose they can carry on sticking black & white photo’s in the ‘hall of fame’ to remind themselves of where we used to be. What about adding some modern players at some point? How about adding to the history? FAT CHANCE.

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  21. 21
    Worcester Spur

    No.14 Wallop – What do you know?? Failed at Liverpool? – He was never given a fair crack – Bet Rafa would love him now eh?

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  22. 22
    tommo

    I predicted this 2 days ago on my facebook page. Spend the cash, get the man, stay up, it ain’t rocket science. If Spurs don’t want him, they may pay a large chuck of his wages then we could pay, say £20-£25k a week. Even paying all his wages it would be a bargain if we stay up. Robbie is the man to do that. £1.5mil in wages but £40-£50mil in extra revenue if we stay up. Got to be worth a gamble

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  23. 23
    Mark

    Please take him. Please, please take him.

    No honestly, he’s really good.

    I’d pay his wages for you.

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  24. 24
    Pedro Henrique

    I have great admiration for Robbie Keane,,but I honestly wouldnt want Wolves to pay any player 70k a week,even iff we end up back in the championship..You might think no ambition,,not at all,in my humble oppinion wages like that are ruining football,,imagine as a sixteen year old boy iff you had the chance to play for the Wolves,and get paid TEN grand a week,you would think you had died and gone to heaven,what a life eh.I used to play three times a week for nothing,and dream of running out at the Golden Palace…70 grand a week is obceene (sorry about the spelling).

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  25. 25
    Alex Rae's Butler

    Yeah, lets pay him 70k a week and leave the rest of the squad on 15k – 25k.

    What motivational experts you all are. People on here criticise MM for his man management skills. Unbelievable.

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  26. 26
    chris hoggard

    no16 Robert, As you say, remember what our then club captain Paul Butler said,’Wolves will never be successful whilst Jez Moxey is at the club’.Admittedly this was said when Butler was in contract dispute with the club.To all the people who say wake up and smell the coffee;we can it is a cheap and nasty brand.My bet for our first signing will be Carsley all the way from Blues reserves.He would have been a good signing Jez 10 years ago but he will be cheap this time round.

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  27. 27
    Simon in Oklahoma!

    18. pablo…I agree about McGhee. It was so they could make way for Claridge & Slater.
    D’oh!

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  28. 28
    wolvesmod

    Keane will be back at Wolves when he’s 37 and in his final year of playing.

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  29. 29
    Sedgley ScottyP

    No 25 what aload of rubbish! Does that mean your happy to stagnate as a mediocre club with no ambition because a couple of players might get upset?
    Most of the team would embrace having a star like keane in our team regardless of how much they earned!

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  30. 30
    truewolves

    wallop, sour grapes?? how did cardiff get on the other night and how did derby get on last saturday??. lol, and nae the last ex- wba player to have as much talent as robbie keane??? erm erm, . utw

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  31. 31
    Ad Mania

    KEANO!

    KEANO!

    KEANO!

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  32. 32
    WolfyTor74

    Calling No. 4 and 20. Fickle?? Er dont think so im what you call a realist, if you read my entry properly, which is something you obviously struggle with due to your responses. I would love to see Robbie Keane back, but it isnt going to happen, maybe in his twilight years, because believe it or not we are not going to be a team challenging for honours which is what Keano will want. That is not negativity, it is fact and realism. Come on you muppets wake up and smell the coffee.

    Up the realistic wolves!!

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  33. 33
    Simon in Oklahoma!

    Morgan & Moxey supposedly run Wolves like a business…but what kind of businessmen let the inexperienced kids doing their jobs badly not only earn as much as their industry leaders, but dictate who can earn what.

    Are we to believe the infamous wage structure is so set in stone and can’t be tweaked, or re-written altoghter. Oh wait, I was forgetting all our players contracts say…

    “I reserve the right to approve the terms and conditions of all other future players, and on no account can they earn more than me”

    So there you have it, no, it can’t be changed.

    But if it could, as every other business in the world pays according to experience and performance, being fair to everyone, how about a weekly bonus of:

    1K a week for every international goal scored, and 25K a week for every goal scored in a world cup final.

    So for Robbie, thats 41 goal + 1 world cup finals goal, so a 66K/week bonus. Same rules for everyone, its only fair. So SEB, your new bonus would come to, err, let me see… 0

    Maybe even a little extra in their pay packet if the score a goal for us too so SEB gets at least something.

    So is everyone else thinking the obvious, obviously except for Mick:

    Signing Rob Hulse
    3M transfer fee + 15k/week x 30 weeks? = 3.45M

    Signing Robbie Keane
    Free transfer + 70k/week x 30 weeks? = 2.1M

    Hmmm, so who shall we go for Mick?

    If Keane wants to stay at Spurs, fair enough, or any other top 6 Premiership contenders that will play in Europe, no problem. But to let him slip to Celtic or anyone else just cause we couln’t afford him would just be shameful. Yes Celtic play in Europe, against the likes of the mighty Hapoel Tel-Aviv, but their domestic season is hardly a great lure for a top international.

    and didn’t Morgan & Moxey make some kind of statement when we were promoted along the lines of…

    “We will keep our wage structure but accept that we are in the Premiership now and will have to pay Premiership wages to Premiership players” (Now I’m beginning to think that meant ‘the worst possible’ premiership players.)

    This could be a one off chance to sign a proper, proven, top quality Premiership player in a position we desperately need…so Morgan, take your cheque book with you Saturday & make us all proud.

    Simon :)

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  34. 34
    Dan

    33. Even worse we probably end up spending 6 mil on Beckford

    Come on Morgan, sort it out.

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  35. 35
    Stoke on Trent Wolf

    70K a week!!! (for Keane) Moxey wouldn’t pay him 70,000 pence a week!!! So I guess that rules us out!!!

    Fight, fight wherever you may be.

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  36. 36
    Simon in Oklahoma!

    20. wembley74
    Spot on mate!

    …and another thing, don’t forget Robbie Keane has already earned us 6M for absolutely nothing. The interest on it alone over the years would pay his wages.

    24.Pedro. Sadly we don’t make the rules. Every club gets a vast amount for being a Premiership member, which they are inevitably spend on players. Now that billionaires are commonplace its not surprising that the total pool of money available in the Premiership for players is at a record high. But… there is a limited supply of world class players. Since the Bosman ruling players have a large say on their terms and conditions, so the best players are merely getting their fair share of that huge pot of money. Keane’s wages are just the going rate for a striker of his quality, and in business terms he’s more than value for money. He’s already gotten us 6M, and spending say 2M on him would more than likely secure another 30M.

    So when a 16yr old is offered 10K a week by Wolves, we sadly miss out on him cause Blues offer him 16K. Then we are all blown away cause Man City give him 70K a week, & our dream offer doesn’t look quite so good.

    The obscene thing is that most of the clubs instrumental in raising fees and wages are the ones allowed to do so despite being massively in debt.

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  37. 37
    Paul Norman

    McCarthy wont have ANY BIG names while he is at Wolves,he can only bully the young players, the star names will have none of it.There is a reason he has only won 5 premier games and there it is in a nutshell.Also Moxey wont pay 70k to anyone [it would affect his end of season bonus]

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  38. 38
    laughingwolf

    Laet’s get lescott back from Everton on loan as well it will be like old times. Mid table by the end of January. UTW.

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  39. 39
    JIWAL

    Why on earth would Keane come back to us. You re all dreaming

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  40. 40
    The Usual Suspects

    38 Err Lescott has long since left Everton and is now at Man Citeh

    As for Robbie Keane – Dream on – Moxey would never sanction a move for a player of his class quality or wages!!!

    Lower leagues – relative unknowns from abroad is more like it and a wage budget that keeps MM and the current playing squad happy

    Job done Mr Moxey? Do you mean your job guaranteed regardless of staying up or relegation??? Ambition??? There’s only one person at the Mol forefilling their own personal ambition – I’ll leave you to work that one out!

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  41. 41
    laughingwolf

    Sorry meant Man city as he is struggling with Toure there. Like Spurs with Robbie they would probebly pay most of his wages to help us out.

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  42. 42
    truewolves

    jiwal your the one who’s dreamin,

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