McKeown, Phil

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Personal

Phil McKeown 1997

Fullname: Philip McKeown

aka: Phil McKeown

Born: 4 December 1979
Birthplace: Carrickfergus
Height: 6' (183cm)
Signed: Pro 18 July 1996
Position: Right Back
Internationals
: Northern Ireland U18
International Caps: ?
International Goals: ?

In August 1996, he had 14 Northern Ireland Schoolboy appearances and 1 Northern Ireland U16 cap. In 1997/98 he moved up to the Northern Ireland U18 squad but it is not known how many caps he won at this level.

Celtic Career Review

Appeared in FourFourTwo magazine's 'weekend wonders' competition in 2007. He said:

"Signed by Glasgow Celtic as a 13 year old I was there till I was 18. Highlights include playing at Ibrox in front of 37,000 in a reserve game and scoring against Rangers in the Scottish Youth Cup Final of 1997. Playing for Northern Ireland Schoolboys as captain in the Victory Shield covered live by sky tv. Winning an Irish Cup winners medal at Portadown and playing in the UEFA Cup.
Being let go by Celtic as an 18 year old I had quite a few offers but decided to go to Blackpool as Nigel Worthington was then boss. First day of training I started to ping the ball round with my right foot it was at that point Nigel realised he'd snapped up a right back and not the left back he was looking for. My pro career ended after that when I returned to Northern Ireland to play Irish league."

As of 2007 was playing for Dragons AFC in the Warrington Sunday League Division 4.

Playing Career

Celtic Boys Club
Celtic (July 1996 – May 1998) 0 apps
Blackpool (trial, summer 1998)
Portadown (1998-2001) 36 apps 0 goals
Ballyclare Comrades (2001-2002) 14 apps 0 goals
Newry Town (2002) 2 apps 0 goals
Carrick Rangers (2003) 5 apps 0 goals

Phil was signed as a Pro to the club in July 1996. He played rarely for the predominantly U18 Youth team through season 1996/97.
At the start of 1997/98 he did pre-season training with the club before returning to Northern Ireland as part of the Milk Cup Tournament winning team. However he contracted some kind of intestinal infection which left him very weak and he failed to make it into the Youth side at Celtic till late August. He made a decent number of appearances that season, even stepping up to become a Reserves sub. He was, however, released at the end of the season.

Awards

Was a member of the Northern Ireland Youth team which won the Milk Cup tournament in July 1997, overcoming Manchester Utd, Bayern Munich and Feyenoord sides on the way to victory.

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