Robbie Keane has finally addressed the long standing accusations he has faced over who he supported as a youngster.
Keane's Liverpool tenure was much shorter than he had envisaged. Joining the club from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2008, he returned to White Hart Lane in January 2009, after scoring seven times in 28 appearances.
Upon joining the Reds, the former Republic of Ireland international said: “I would specifically like to thank [Tottenham] chairman Daniel Levy for understanding that, as a fan, joining Liverpool is a lifelong dream of mine and one I couldn’t let pass me by.”
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However, after moving to Celtic two years later, Keane said: “It’s no secret over the years I’ve been a Celtic fan… I always wanted to play for Celtic.”
It led to jokes throughout his career that he was a boyhood fan of each club he moved to. The Irishman represented 11 clubs throughout his playing career.
And featuring on the latest episode of the 'We are Liverpool' podcast with Robbie Fowler and Peter McDowall, the Anfield favourite couldn’t resist but ask Keane about the comments he made a number of years ago.
Kicking things off, he said: "We've all read the interviews, when you signed for Liverpool you were a supporter growing up, when you signed for Celtic you were a supporter growing up, when you signed for LA you were an LA fan."
And Keane replied: "I can never understand this! In Ireland, you are brought up, as in like, you are given Celtic. That is just the way it is.
"And there you always have an English team, that is completely normal in Ireland. You ask anyone, you'd have loads of Liverpool fans now going to watch Celtic games, so that thing of being a fan grew legs.
"You are brought up Celtic, you are actually given Celtic, and then you pick your team in England. It was great, it's a fantastic club, playing in front of those fans is hard to describe.
"Liverpool and Celtic fans are very, very similar, in terms of the atmosphere and noise in the games. It was a really great experience that I really enjoyed, I was only there a few months, but having the opportunity to play for Celtic was great."
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