Arsenal legend Martin Keown has revealed the football world has mispronounced his name for the better part of 40-plus years.
A figure of the club’s Invincible squad, Keown racked up over 400 appearances for the Gunners and ended his trophy-laden spell in 2004, which included three Premier League titles and three FA Cups.
Since retiring, the former England defender has gone on to enjoy a punditry career on TV and radio.
However, speaking to Hayters TV following the release of his new book, ‘On The Edge’, the 58-year-old confirmed that we have been getting his surname wrong all this time.
“Keoghian is the pronunciation. My father worked hard and I kind of gave up on it because it was so difficult to get people to say the word.
“The Irish just say it, it just falls off the tongue. It’s part of their dialect but for English people to say it, it was [difficult].
“So John Motson decides, God rest his soul in his wisdom, he spoke to me before for one of the first games he did with me. Such was his preparation. And he just said, “Look, okay, how are we saying this? I’ve heard it said ‘Keown’ and ‘Keoghian’. ‘Keoghian’s’ is a bit difficult.”
“So we kind of agreed Keown’s probably the sensible way to go, so that’s what we did.”
