15 years ago today, Roy Keane produced the most controversial ‘tackle’ in Premier League history – a high challenge on old nemesis Alf-Inge Haaland in the Manchester derby that is credited with forcing the former Norway international into early retirement.
Whether the blame should truly lay with the former Manchester United skipper remains a matter of great debate. The Irishman famously claimed in his 2002 biography that the horror challenge was revenge for Haaland accusing him of feigning injury three years previous, whilst laying on the ground and clutching his ruptured ACL at Elland Road, suggesting intent to end his career.
Yet, the Manchester City midfielder had been suffering from knee problems for several months previous, to the extent that he wore strapping, and even played two more games for Norway the following week. Keane also fouled Haaland’s right leg, as oppose to his troublesome left, and in 2003 legal action against the former Ireland star was dropped.
Nonetheless, Haaland insists Keane’s tackle effectively ended his career, having never played a full match after. So in honour of the defender-come-midfielder’s abrupt exit from the game, we take a look at eleven Premier League stars who were forced into early retirement through injury.
GOALKEEPER – MATT MURRAY
Matt Murray was a goalkeeper of great promise who registered just one Premier League appearance with Wolves during the 2003/04 season and has been dubbed by BBC Sport as the best goalkeeper England never had.
He played a key role in the Molineux outfit’s promotion to the top flight the year previous, walking away from the play-off final with the man-of-the-match award after saving a second-half penalty from Michael Brown.
That heralded a call-up to the England U21 squad but also instigated the start of Murray’s injury issues; he only made seven first team appearances in the next three years due to recurring back problems and a fractured foot.
Murray enjoyed a renaissance during the 2006/07 season, claiming the Championship Player of the Month award in December, a spot in the Championship Team of the Year and the PFA Fans’ Player of the Year award.
But the campaign ended on sour note as Murray broke his shoulder, followed by a knee injury in following pre-season, that kept him out for the entire of 2007/08.
Murray featured for Wolves reserves in 2009 but lasted just 23 minutes due to a knee problem. In 2010, he announced his retirement at the age of 29 – incredibly young for a goalkeeper.
RIGHT-BACK – ANDY WILKINSON
Earlier this year, Stoke City stalwart Andy Wilkinson was forced to retire due to the long-term side-effects of a concussion he’d suffered twelve months earlier, from a pile-driving volley that caught him on the temple.
The old adage of putting his head where it hurts epitomised the right-back’s style of play. He was a rugged, old-fashioned defender and almost ever-present under Tony Pulis, making 123 Premier League appearances for the Potters after helping seal their promotion from the Championship in 2008.
Wilkinson revealed in February that the shot to his head caused a loss of peripheral vision on his right side almost instantly, despite him deciding to stay on the pitch, but that was just the start of his problems.
Over the next twelve months, the Potters academy product went on to suffer vertigo, loss of balance and nausea, whilst the damage to his brain made a return to professional football too much of a risk.
Wilkinson was forced to hang up his boots at the age of 31.
CENTRE-BACK – LEDLEY KING
On the surface, Ledley King had a fantastic career, making 321 appearances across all competitions for Tottenham Hotspur and representing England on 21 occasions despite the enormous wealth of centre-back options at the time – including John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell to name a few.
Yet, the ‘Rolls Royce of a centre-half’ made more than 30 Premier League appearances in a single season just twice in a career thwarted by a chronic knee condition that was so intense King couldn’t even train from 2008 onwards.
Harry Redknapp finally lifted the lid on King’s injury issues in 2009, telling reporters; “There’s no cure. There’s no cartilage, nothing to operate on. It’s just bone on bone. So it’s just a question of managing it. It swells up after games and it normally takes seven days to recover. He rarely trains, he mostly just goes to the gym to keep himself ticking over. But not running or anything like that.”
The fact King remained one of the best defenders in the Premier League and in contention for England was a testament to what a talented player he was, but also a continuous reminder of how injuries had stopped him reaching the very top of the game.
The Spurs icon finally gave up the fight and retired at the age of 31, having been fit for less than half of the club’s Premier League fixtures during the five seasons previous.
CENTRE-BACK – RICHARD RUFUS
A poor man’s answer to Ledley King, Richard Rufus was an incredibly athletic centre-half whose form for Charlton Athletic after their promotion to the Premier League in 2000 lead to calls for an England berth, but injury problems cut short a very promising career.
The calls for a Three Lions cap grew louder as the Addicks solidified themselves in the top flight but by 2001, when Rufus was just 26, his injury problems had already started to mount up, missing the second half of the 2001/02 campaign and the beginning of the following season.
The Lewisham-born defender underwent a series of knee operations, limiting him to sporadic appearances for Charlton in cup competitions, and after surgery in 2004 proved unsuccessful, decided to call it quits at the age of 29.
Rufus was later voted as Charlton Athletic’s greatest ever defender, accordingly claiming a place in the club’s Hall of Fame.
LEFT-BACK – PAUL LAKE
Paul Lake, renowned for his ability to play in any position except for in goal, rarely kicked a ball after the age of 21, yet had shown enough talent in the early part of his career to earn a place in Manchester City’s Hall of Fame.
The Citizens academy product won the FA Youth Cup in 1986, was part of the senior squad that earned promotion to the top flight in 1989 and was awarded the club captaincy a year later, but the armband proved to be more a curse than a blessing.
Just three games into his captaincy, Lake suffered a knee injury against Aston Villa that later amalgamated into a host of problems, including a ruptured ACL that required pioneering surgery and kept him out of the first team for over a year.
Lake attempted several comebacks – even starting the opening game of the 1992/93 Premier League season – but almost every one lead to a re-rupturing of his knee ligaments and consequentially several operations.
After making just four appearances in five years, Lake retired in 1996 at the age of 27. His 2011 autobiography, I’m Not Really Here, became a Sunday Times best-seller, but even to this day the City icon suffers from knee problems – he’s on a lifelong prescription for painkillers and underwent a 20th operation in March 2015.
RIGHT MIDFIELD – ROBERTO DI MATTEO
As well as managing Chelsea to the 2012 Champions League title, Roberto Di Matteo will be remembered as one of the first foreign stars to grace Stamford Bridge during the Premier League era and for scoring the fastest-ever goal in an FA Cup final – until his record was beaten by Louis Saha in 2009.
Overall, the attacking midfielder enjoyed a great career, featuring prominently for Lazio before lifting two FA Cups, a League Cup and a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup during his 175 appearances for the Blues – whilst picking up 32 caps for the Italian national team in an era in which Azzurri were overloaded with attacking quality.
Nonetheless, Di Matteo’s twilight years were taken from him as a horror injury forced into retirement at the relatively tender age of 31. He’d suffered a triple-leg fracture during a UEFA Cup tie against Swiss side St. Gallen 18 months earlier and after several operations realised he’d never be able to compete at the same level again.
CENTRAL MIDFIELD – OWEN HARGREAVES
Owen Hargreaves wasn’t your typical England international. He was born in Canada, to English parents, and joined Bayern Munich’s academy at the age of 16 – having not taken a serious interest in playing football professionally until just twelve months earlier.
The midfielder lifted four Bundesliga titles and a Champions League title with the Bavarians but truly rose to prominence at the 2006 World Cup, where his tenacity and energy off the ball stood out in an otherwise underperforming England side.
That convinced Sir Alex Ferguson to open negotiations with Bayern and a year later Hargreaves signed for Manchester United in a £17million deal – going on to lift the Premier League title and Champions League title during his first season at Old Trafford.
But his second campaign was hampered by injuries, most notably a recurring problem known as ‘jumper’s knee’, that heralded several operations and a long-term rehabilitation programme in the United States – partly headed by renowned knee surgeon Richard Steadman.
Hargreaves made just five appearances in his final three seasons with the Red Devils before signing for Manchester City on a Bosman deal in 2011. But managing only four appearances during his single term at the Etihad, the floppy-haired midfielder retired twelve months later aged 31.
CENTRAL MIDFIELD – ALF-INGE HAALAND
Alf-Inge Haaland’s career saw him represent Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City in the Premier League, before being forced into retirement at the age of 30.
The former Norway international was a defender-come-midfielder of considerable feistiness, but any qualities he offered eventually became overshadowed by his never-ending feud with Roy Keane – whose horror tackle in 2001 is still regarded by many as the ultimate factor behind his early retirement.
Nonetheless, Haaland didn’t officially call it quits until two years later, undergoing several operations and pinning his final hopes on renowned knee specialist John A Bergfield. He even returned to football in 2011 when he featured for Rosseland in the Norwegian third division.
The former Citizens star, famed for his very public hatred of Manchester United, captains this select Xi.
LEFT MIDFIELD – MICHAEL JOHNSON
In 2016, the Premier League has Tottenham Hotspur starlet Dele Alli. But back in 2007, Manchester City youngster Michael Johnson was having a similar effect on the top flight.
Making the No.10 role in the City starting Xi his own at the tender age of 19, linking up well with Stephen Ireland and Elano, Johnson seemed destined to become an Etihad and England great, boasting great creativity, flair and technical quality.
But proneness to injury continually hampered the attacking midfielder’s development, and he suffered a double-hernia in 2008 and a serious knee injury in 2009, before becoming of less importance to the club as Sheik oil billions began propelling them up the Premier League table.
After nearly three years on the sidelines, Johnson went out on loan to Leicester City in 2011 but managed just nine appearances and subsequently returned to his parent club in January 2012 after yet another injury set-back.
At this point, the prodigy’s love of the beautiful game had emphatically dropped and he was eventually released by City in December 2012 at the age of 24, after managing just 45 appearances in total the Citizens.
Johnson later revealed in 2013, as photos of him looking several stones overweight hit the tabloids, that he’d quit football for mental health reasons and wanted to ‘be left alone to live the rest of his life’. A dramatic fall from grace for a midfielder once tipped to become the next Michael Ballack by Dietmar Hamaan.
STRIKER – GIGI CASIRAGHI
Gigi Casiraghi was one of the better forwards in Serie A, lifting two UEFA Cups and two Coppa Italias with Juventus and Lazio whilst gaining a reputation for acrobatic finishes and his ability to find goals anywhere across the frontline.
The Italy international, who represented his country on 44 occasions, netting twelve times in the process, moved to Chelsea for a £5.4million sum in 1998 as the Blues continued their recruitment of creative Azzurri stars.
The then-29-year-old’s Blues career got off to an absolute flyer, jinking past David James to score the equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield, but was ultimately reduced to just ten appearances as an awkward challenge from West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop left him sidelined for the next twenty months.
Still ‘walking with a limp’, according to Chelsea chairman Ken Bates, after ten operations, the Blues eventually decided to cash in on Casiraghi’s insurance policy in 2000 – meaning he wouldn’t be allowed to play at top level again.
The striker contested Chelsea’s decision and even threatened legal action, but ultimately never played professionally again. He now works as Gianfranco Zola’s assistant at Al-Arabi.
STRIKER – DEAN ASHTON
Dean Ashton’s story is arguably the archetype tale of Premier League stars whose careers were unfortunately cut short through injury.
The Swindon-born striker was a big-‘n’-burley centre-forward with two tricky feet and a good footballing brain, often earning comparisons with Teddy Sheringham.
Having never relied on his pace, Ashton probably would still be playing in the top flight today, currently aged just 32, but his career came to an end when he was 26 and ironically enough, it was a call-up to the England squad three years earlier that began his abrupt demise.
Indeed, Ashton was in the squad for a friendly against Greece in 2006 but a hard tackle from Shaun Wright-Phillips in training broke his ankle, leaving the Hammers frontman sidelined for over a year.
Ashton was called up again after recovering from injury but bizarrely picked up another on international duty that ruled him out for six weeks, before spraining his ankle in Gianfranco Zola’s first training session as West Ham boss.
Still feeling the effects of the injury incurred with England two years earlier, Ashton never recovered and eventually hung up his boots in 2009. He recently reminded the world of the player he could have been with an acrobatic scissor-kick in Mark Noble’s testimonial at Upton Park.
