Keane’s Spurs future in doubt as party pooper Harry rages

ROBBIE KEANE is facing an uncertain future at Tottenham after the club launched disciplinary proceedings against the Ireland captain and 15 other first-team players who travelled to Dublin for an unauthorised Christmas party last week.

Ahead of Tottenham’s trip to Blackburn today, boss Harry Redknapp says he will summon his squad for a dressing down at their Chigwell training complex on Monday morning. He is expected to issue fines of up to two weeks’ wages to all 16 players, with Keane, who organised the trip, likely to be the focus of his anger.

Redknapp sidestepped enquiries last night over whether he would take further action against Keane, but there is now serious doubt over whether the player will remain at White Hart Lane beyond the January transfer window. In the short term, his status as team captain is also in jeopardy.

The Dubliner has already fallen behind Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe in the scramble for first-team places and his role in organising the trip to his home country is not likely to help his chances of regular football.

The 29-year-old has been linked with a move to Celtic, although their manager Tony Mowbray last night played down the chance of bidding for him. Keane’s agent, Struan Marshall, was not returning calls last night.

Redknapp’s irritation with the latest off-field controversy to engulf his club has been exacerbated by the fact he was kept in the dark as to the true nature of the visit. The players had told him they were travelling to Ireland for a golfing break, but instead spent the afternoon in a pub before moving on to a Dublin nightclub. They returned just 72 hours before the home fixture with Wolves, which they lost 1-0.

The furore is of intense personal embarrassment to Redknapp, who used his pre-match press conference last Friday to denounce Christmas parties and insist his squad would “never take the liberty” of holding one without his permission. Discovering the majority of his squad had done precisely that just 48 hours before has left him looking foolish.

Redknapp is also aware the incident merely rubber-stamps Tottenham’s status as the Premier League’s party-lovers. He fined Ledley King and David Bentley for drunken escapades in recent months and took a dim view of Crouch being photographed looking dishevelled in a London nightspot in October.

“I am not happy and it will be dealt with severely, on Monday,” Redknapp said. “I was shocked when I heard about it. I didn’t have a clue they were going and they were told not to do it. They didn’t ask my permission and will have to take the consequences.

“Other teams let their players have parties – Bolton were in Ireland having a party, Manchester United have had problems as well. I just didn’t want my players having one.

“Most people can go out, get drunk, fall over and be stupid, but as a footballer you can’t do that. People are always waiting to catch you by taking your photo or whatever. I’m a football manager. I wouldn’t go out and get drunk, falling around and pulling some old slag. I’m not that stupid.”

Redknapp has been boosted by Ledley King returning to training after a freak accident in a practice match that saw him injure his knee. He could play one of Spurs’ two games over Christmas.

Luka Modric, however, has suffered a setback in his recovery from a fractured fibula and has needed treatment on an ankle complaint, ruling him out of the Blackburn trip.