Martin Keown may be an Arsenal legend, but Gooners were quick to boo him on his Highbury return with Aston Villa.
And Villa fans didn’t let him off the hook either.
The 58-year-old is one of Arsenal’s most successful players having scooped ten major honours across two spells in north London.
Keown was part of each of Arsenal’s three Premier League-winning squads [in 1998, 2002 and 2004].
While he also helped the club claim three FA Cups, along with the European Cup Winners’ Cup – the club’s only official UEFA success.
In total, Keown featured in 449 games for the Gunners after rising through their academy.
He broke into the first team as a 19-year-old in the 1985/86 season – featuring in 27 matches in all competitions.
But to the shock of Arsenal supporters, he was sold to Villa at the end of the campaign for £125,000, who he experienced relegation with in his opening campaign.
Keown made the decision to depart Arsenal over what he perceived to be a lack of respect after the club offered a weekly pay rise of just £50.
And the no-nonsense centre-back was public enemy number one in the eyes of fans when he returned to his former stomping ground for a 2-1 defeat in May 1987.
But to the shock of the 43-cap England international, the Villa fans joined Gooners in jeering the player as Highbury descended into a cauldron of boos, with Keown recalling how false newspaper reports led to the frosty atmosphere.
Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold was recently booed by his own fans at Anfield following his decision to run his contract down in Merseyside.
Discussing his own similar incident, Keown talkSPORT.com: “I’ve experienced booing.
“When I left Arsenal, the first game I went back to play at Highbury, the Arsenal fans were booing me. But Villa fans were, too.
“It was because of comments attributed to me in the morning papers of the game, saying that I was on my way, I was going to leave [Villa Park] and I wanted to go.
“But that wasn’t true, because in fact, I stayed for another two years – I took relegation on the chin and helped to get the club back up again.
“But the whole ground was booing me, so that was even bigger [than what Alexander-Arnold experienced], but you take your medicine.
“I thought Trent dealt with that really well [boos against Arsenal], he got off the pitch as quick as he could, he didn’t put his hand up to his ear or goad the crowd in any way.
“He just took his medicine and I’m sure that he’s going to be a huge success at Real Madrid.”
Commenting on whether one set of fans booing him hurt more, Keown remarked: “You can’t split that.
“The dream for me was to play for Arsenal. When I left, it was on a point of principle and when I did, all the other guys – we’re talking an immense group of youth team players – most of them got a pay rise when I left.
“And it was just a moment where the club were sometimes taking things for granted, when you come through the ranks.
“So I jumped off the mountain and climbed it, because getting in that first team, let me tell you was a very difficult thing to do.
“But I was pleased I got a chance to go back and put history right really and it ended up with a good story.”
Reflecting on whether the heavy booing affected his performance, Keown stated: “Well it made me realise that you’ve got to have character and personality.
“Because it felt very much like you were on your own.
“And when you’re relegated, as we were at that point, we were actually down, everyone’s all over the place, because there’s no real unity.
“That’s why teams get results, like Southampton [draw to Manchester City] and Leicester [draw away at Nottingham Forest] managed to get results.
“There is something in that, sticking together and getting something out of it when there’s a lot of adversity around you.”
Keown would eventually depart Villa in 1989 – joining Everton in a deal worth £750,000.
And three-and-a-half-years later he got the move he was craving for as Arsenal came calling to bring him back in a £2m transfer.
But due to being cup-tied, he failed to feature in Arsenal winning the FA Cup and League Cup in 1993.
However, he didn’t have to wait too long to finally get his hands on silverware, with that coming in the form of the European Cup Winners’ Cup the following season.
Nine more trophies would follow before Keown would walk away from Arsenal after becoming an Invincible in 2004.
Spells at Leicester and Reading then followed, before he announced his retirement in 2005 to bring an end to his illustrious 19-year career.
Catch Martin with Jim White and Simon Jordan every Monday on talkSPORT from 10am
