NOT every Blues squad can boast an ex-international with forty-three caps and three league titles, not to mention a hat-trick of FA Cups, spurring them on from the sidelines. In fact, this claim can only be made by Oxford’s footballers, who have the privilege of being coached by the former Arsenal centre back Martin Keown for the 2007/08 season.
Oxford-born Keown, 41, is spending a year with the side as they look to make amends for last year’s Varsity defeat, on penalties, to Cambridge. The veteran defender is also taking his UEFA A coaching license whilst guiding the Blues through their debut season in the BUSA midlands top division.
Watching the veteran defender stalk the touchline, pausing briefly to bark out instructions to his players, it was easy to imagine the man in his pomp, towering over strikers and intimidating the opposition with his sheer presence.
After overseeing his side’s 2-1 win over Nottingham, including a backs-to-the-wall final twenty minutes, Keown revealed how his taking the reigns of Oxford football had come about.
“It was actually me who approached the University” he said. “I rang up John Roycroft, Oxford’s Director of Sport, and asked him if there was any way in which I could help out with the football here.
“The reason for approaching Oxford was that, besides being close to home, I’d have the opportunity to run the team and coach young players who are keen and willing to learn. It was also a good chance to gain real experience alongside taking my UEFA coaching badges.
“Basically, I took this on to see whether I still love the game enough to go back into the professional side of things. This team is giving me my football fix at the moment and the experience of managing these players will be invaluable in the future.”
The Highbury legend is not just here to further his own career, though. Keown enthused about bringing fresh players into the Blues set-up and appeared genuinely excited about helping to raise the profile of the sport in Oxford, and all the challenges that come with it.
“The most difficult element so far was probably the system of trials that we held at the start of the season” he said. “I hadn’t experienced a situation like that in a long time, so we’ll probably be looking at changing that aspect of the system somehow.
“What we don’t want is players slipping through the net as they’ve done in the past. There’s a lad called Cameron Knight, now in his third year, who only made his Blues debut this season. There has to be a better way of identifying talent throughout the university than the present trial system.”
When pressed on which of his players have particularly caught his eye this term, Keown was quick to avoid singling out just one or two men. “We’re a team, not a group of individuals” he insisted.
“It’s been hugely satisfying to see our improvement this term. The boys were beaten heavily by a representative side in our first game, but we’ve gone on to pick up some great results and challenge at the top of a tough division.”
Away from the league, though, student eyes will surely be looking to Varsity and a triumph over the Tabs, although Keown played down the importance of the set-piece fixture.
“I’m not just looking at this season in terms of Varsity” he said. “People will probably judge us on that one fixture, but in my eyes the sign of a quality team is showing consistency in the league.”
Arsenal fans in particular will be keen to learn whether Keown’s chest-thumping, aggressive demeanour on the pitch has translated to his fledgling career in coaching.
“I do try to be a bit calmer as a manager” he laughed. “What I like to see in football is composure on the ball and then aggression when you are trying to get it back. I always want to see my players putting in 100% effort out on the pitch, and thankfully the lads here have never given me less than that.”
Keown was turning out for local side Marston Saints when he was spotted by Arsenal, launching him on the way to a glittering career. Who’s to say, with the Blues riding high in their league and the man himself clearly relishing being back in the sport, that a second life in coaching won’t also begin with an amateur side in Oxford?
From the Reds to the Blues
