Keane to return

It was a great deal of pleasure and some schadenfreude that I welcome the return of Robbie Keane to Spurs. I was saddened when he decided to leave for Liverpool in the Summer, and felt the reasons to be somewhat shallow although not approaching the depths plumbed by Sol Campbell some years earlier. Keane had been reputed to have grown up in his native Eire supporting Celtic, so it came as something of a surprise to learn that learn that Liverpool had become his boyhood team.

During his earlier tenure Robbie Keane had been something of a talisman for Spurs: when Robbie played well so did the team. Even when he hit a poor run of form his energy, commitment and passion for the game always remained evident. There was never any doubt that a poor display would be a short-term temporary phenomenon, something which cannot be said of a great number of footballers in the top flight. I am eager to see if new manager Harry Redknapp will be able to achieve what others have failed to do in the past, and play a front line of Keane and Defoe, once the latter returns from injury.

There is an old adage that "you can't go home again". This has been the case for a large number of professional footballers returning to clubs they had previously played for after some time elsewhere. In this respect Spurs have a decent track record. Players as diverse as Teddy Sheringham, Jurgen Klinsmann, and Neil Ruddock have played for Spurs, then moved elsewhere, and then returned to Spurs to play successfully for a second time. With the return of Pascal Chimbonda, Jermaine Defoe and Robbie Keane to the Spurs' colours this trend seems likely to continue.

And so we welcome back Robbie Keane to the ranks at White Hart Lane. May he continue to average at least one goal every other game, and help us climb up the Premiership table to where we ought to be: in the top four. A win at Wembley on March 1st would not go amiss either. Come on baby, let the good times roll...