AT some point on Saturday evening many of those gathered inside the Aviva Stadium in Dublin will rise to acclaim Robbie Keane.
It may be when he appears out of the tunnel to start for the Republic of Ireland in their Euro 2016 qualifying match against Scotland, or, more likely these days, when he jogs down the sideline to warm up midway through the game, or darts on to the field as a substitute. Those offering applause - and there may even be some moved to do so among the travelling support - will pay tribute to Ireland's greatest player now entering the autumn of his career.
There may not be many more opportunities to do so. Those eyes on Keane will see a player now 34 years old, pushing 35. Only Mark McGhee will look across and still see the 16 year-old who appeared so dramatically on his radar almost two decades previously. McGhee, now the Scotland assistant manager, was at that time the manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers. "Keaney", as he still refers to him, was a youthful teenage prospect, having travelled across the Irish Sea from his native Dublin to the West Midlands a year or so earlier with the dream of becoming a professional footballer.
McGhee was happy to help him on his way. Alerted to the young Irish lad who was making waves in the youth ranks, the one-time Aberdeen and Celtic striker thought he would take a look for himself. He could not help but be impressed. His next move was to commandeer Keane to join first-team training and then take him on a pre-season tour of Scotland. McGhee saw nothing in that time to dissuade him that this recently-turned 17 year-old was not ready for senior football. Keane made his debut against Norwich City on the first day of the season, scoring twice. Within two years he was being sold to Coventry City for £6m, before moving to Inter Milan a year later for £13m. This was a story that kept getting bigger and better year after year and McGhee had helped write the first page.
"We started pre-season and we were training and the youth team were training near us," he recalled. "So I went over to have a look. This kid looked great. I went over to Chris Evans and Chris Turner who were in charge of the youth teams at that time, and asked "who's that?" And they replied "that's the lad Keane who came over at the end of last season". And I vaguely remembered that.
"I asked if I could have him for a couple of days to get a look at him. He came over with us and was our best player. And you're thinking "maybe this is a bit of an illusion". We were going north on a tour to play some games so I thought I would take him with us. By the time we came back from the trip it was even more obvious that he was our best player. So I had phoned ahead to tell them to prepare some kind of contract as this boy was clearly a good player.
"We had to give him a contract that wasn't the usual ones you give to 16 year-olds. So we gave him a contract that was taking him through until he was 19. And then by the end of pre-season I was asking them to give him another one! By the start of the season I had decided he was going to play. And he made his debut at Norwich and we won 2-0. He scored both goals. And at the end of the game I phoned the club again and said "get another contract ready". So he signed three different contracts in the space of three months. He was brilliant."
Keane has enjoyed something of a peripatetic career ever since. From Inter he went to Leeds, Tottenham Hotspur (twice), Liverpool, Celtic , West Ham, Aston Villa and LA Galaxy, with whom he has been since 2011. McGhee has bumped into his former prodigy intermittently along the way.
"We played Spurs in the FA Cup when we were at Brighton and they beat us 2-1. We played really well at White Hart Lane and Keaney scored a late goal, an overhead kick. It was his 100th goal and he signed his shirt at the end of the game and brought it into the dressing room. He said "thanks for everything, Mark" and gave me the shirt. I've still got it."
McGhee last saw Keane ahead of Scotland's match against the Republic at Celtic Park last November. It came as some relief to the Scotland assistant to note his former player would start only from the bench. By the time Keane emerged for a 12-minute cameo, Shaun Maloney had already scored what would prove to be the winning goal. McGhee will not be overly despondent if Keane's role is again restricted in Saturday's re-match.
"I'm such a fan of his, and have such knowledge of his abilities, that I think if any team-sheet comes in and he's on the bench then you feel happier. But you still have the probability that he's going to come on. He could still hurt you. At this stage of his career it's not ridiculous to think he could be very effective coming off the bench with half an hour to go in a game that's 0-0. He could do that in Dublin and that would be just as tricky as him starting the game."
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