Martin Keown leads tributes to Arsenal double-winner Alex Manninger, dead at 48

Martin Keown led the tributes to Alex Manninger after the former Arsenal goalkeeper died at 48, with reports saying his car was struck by a train at a level crossing near Salzburg, Austria. Red Bull Salzburg confirmed the news, and Arsenal said it was “shocked and deeply saddened” as it recalled a player who meant far more to the club than his profile ever suggested.

Manninger joined Arsenal in 1997 and, in his first season in north London, made seven Premier League appearances as Arsène Wenger’s side chased history. When an injury to David Seaman opened the door in early 1998, the 20-year-old Austrian stepped into a first-team role that demanded calm, not glamour. He helped Arsenal win the Premier League and FA Cup double in 1997/98, and one of his defining moments came in the FA Cup quarter-final shootout against West Ham, when he saved a penalty in a victory that kept the double alive.

Arsenal’s official history later said Manninger made 63 starts during five years at the club and that he deserved more credit than he often received. The Premier League lists him with 39 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, a record that captures the same truth from a different angle: Manninger was not the headline name, but he was central to the structure around one of the club’s most important seasons. In a dressing room built around Seaman, Keown and the rest of Wenger’s senior core, Manninger was the reliable understudy who held his nerve when called upon.

His career stretched far beyond north London. Manninger later played for Liverpool, Juventus, Torino, Bologna, Siena and Augsburg, won a Serie A winner’s medal with Juventus and earned 33 caps for Austria. Across 22 years as a professional, from 1995 to 2017, he built the kind of career that elite teams rely on: long, adaptable and often out of the spotlight.

David Seaman also paid tribute to his former understudy, a reminder that the value of players like Manninger is often most visible to teammates who depend on them and clubs that benefit from their steadiness. For Arsenal, his place in the club’s modern history was secured not by numbers alone, but by the way he answered when a trophy-winning season needed a goalkeeper who could be trusted.