Formerly of Manchester United before heading into the world of management and punditry, central midfielder Roy Keane recently revealed how much he was paid, including other perks, during the apex of his career on the latest episode of The Overlap.
Born and raised in Mayfield, Cork, the seven-time Premier League winner began his career in his homeland before moving to England to ply his trade for Nottingham Forest. Then, in 1993, Sir Alex Ferguson and Co came calling, and he moved to United.
He became integral to the dynasty that Ferguson built in Manchester, chalking up 479 appearances for the club before leaving in 2005. But what he earned is a far cry from what footballers – of today’s day and age – demand from clubs.
Keane Reveals Details of Old Man Utd Contracts
roy keane
Keane, now 54 years of age, took details of his old Manchester United contracts to a recent recording of The Overlap podcast – and one of his many contracts was shown to the camera by Gary Neville as it revealed the intricacies of football contracts.
Neville read out the details. “You signed a contract in 2000 for £950,000 per year, which is £20,000 a week,” he said. That reflected his basic wage. When quizzed by Keane whether that included a signing-on fee, the former defender continued:
“Just basic wage. Then you’ve got the contract that was signed in 2003. Then there’s a contract for £2.75m a year from 2000 to 2003.”
The midfielder’s final contract also included a signing-on fee, which was split across the four-year contract – and the Old Trafford outfit paid him £1 million on a yearly basis until it expired. Then, in 2003, Keane started to earn £3.5 million per year.
Roy Keane
As he reached the end of his career at the club, Neville – after reading the details of his contract – quizzed whether his wage had begun to decline. It did, and Keane said they did that to incentivise the prospect of playing as many minutes as possible.
“Then you’re getting older, and the incentive is to play more,” the 67-cap, nine-goal Republic of Ireland international said. “The incentive is to make sure you’re playing.”
Another clause insisted that Manchester United, as a club, would provide flights for his family between Manchester and Cork. As evidence to the flight perks, his contract read: "The club will provide 20 return flights Manchester/Cork/Manchester for the use of the player, his partner and children for each year of this contract commencing from 1 July 2002."
Not only that, but the contract revealed how club contracts allowed players – Keane, most notably – to play for their national sides. The clause stated: “The club shall release the player for National Representative matches for which he is selected in accordance with the principles of co-operation between Member Associations of Fifa and their clubs."
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Neville also gave fans insight into his final contract at the club as he revealed that Keane earned double what he did at the end of his stay – which was seven years after his fellow teammate did. Jamie Carragher believed he was underpaid, as did Ian Wright.
The defender revealed that he was paid £2.3 million for his final season before calling it quits in 2011 before saying: "I did not negotiate my contracts, I just signed them, I was not bothered. Whatever they offered me."Whatever they offered me, I just said 'That's fine, I'm not bothered'."
Watch the full segment on Keane's old Manchester United contracts below: