Martin Keown’s wife told him to quit punditry after Arsenal’s thrashing by Liverpool
Ex-Gunners defender admits he ‘wasn’t very good’ in the wake of 4-0 Anfield defeat
Martin Keown has admitted his wife told him to give up punditry after his “awful” performance in the wake of Arsenal’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in 2020.
Keown, who played more than 400 times for the Gunners and won the Premier League title three times, has been a pundit for BT Sport since retiring as a player. However, he felt “embarrassed” by his performance on the channel following Mikel Arteta’s side’s dismal display at Anfield.
Speaking on the Quickly Kevin, Will He Score? podcast, he said: “I rang my wife after the game. She’s usually very supportive but she said: ‘That was awful. You’ve got to give it up. You were embarrassing.’
“And she’s right. That’s the only time my wife has ever said I was awful on TV. I wasn’t very good. I was embarrassed by it and I wanted to give up.”
Keown, 55, eventually decided to carry on with his punditry career, but the criticism from his wife still sticks with him.
“I actually think about it now, when I’m watching other pundits, I think: ‘Would my wife say that about them?’
“I think that’s a good barometer. I’m not one of these people who says: ‘Oh, I can dish it out but I can’t take it.’ Well, actually I can’t take it from my wife. That’s the way I am. I’m quite sensitive like that.”
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