A few things on Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, born 14 February 1951 in Doncaster.
This chap was, by all accounts because I’m too young to remember, one of the greatest players this country has ever produced. In 5 seasons at Liverpool he won 3 league titles, 2 UEFA cups, the FA Cup and a European Cup. That’s about the same as Wes Brown.
When he left for Hamburg he continued to impress and won the Ballon d’Or (European Player of the Year) in 1978 and 1979. The only English Player who has won it since is Michael Owen in 2001 when Liverpool won the UEFA Cup.
He was nicknamed Shanks’ Pony. Can’t think why.
That’s enough Scouse talk for now. Kev’s transition into management wasn’t so smooth. He managed Newcastle for 5 years – hardly an ‘era’. The first 18 months of his reign were in Division One. During his 3 full seasons in the Premier League he finished 3rd, 6th and 2nd. That’s really not bad at all but seeing as in the final season he blew a 12 point lead, they truly bottled it and who can forget the famous rant on Sky Sports. This spectacular failure affected Keegan and he tended his resignation. The resignation was refused and he carried on for another half a season eventually crawling out of the door with Newcastle in 4th position.
If you take the lower leagues out of the question his win percentage was 53%. At the time they believed they were genuine title contenders but United had a 64% win rate over the same period. Over the last few years the league has improved and if you take Chelsea’s record over the last 3 seasons they have a whopping 72% win rate.
Newcastle fans are after a return to the Keegan days but if they achieve the same performance levels then they would have finished about level with Spurs over the last couple of years. Admittedly it’s better than they have done but this now seems to be all they are aiming for.
Since he left Newcastle he spent Al Fayed’s money on getting Fulham promoted and did a poor job at City.
Kevin Keegan has NEVER won a trophy as manager.
My favourite Keegan Stat is that he is statistically England’s worst ever manager (this INCLUDES McLaren). When he resigned he famously said:
“I really just feel a little bit short of what’s required, I probably had a
longer run than I could’ve expected. I just don’t feel I can find
that little bit of extra that you need at this level to find that winning
formula.”
Many see Premier League and European Domestic football being a higher level to international football.
But What about the entertainment????? All Geordies care about is good
football!!
All I say to this is that fans of Man Utd, Arsenal, Barcelona enjoy successful football without compromising on style.
Not that any of this is really Keegan’s fault. He has done more for Newcastle than anybody else in recent times but given the above is it really wise for him to return to a club that fired Sir Bobby Robson after he finished 4th in the league?
I really don’t know what they expect. The pretty football came at a price (£15m for Shearer, Darren Peacock was £2.4m and was then one of the highest fees for a defender, Ginola £2m, Les Ferdinand £6m, Asprilla £7m). All of these signings were very significant in the day and were bankrolled by Newcastle’s rise to fame and relatively low wage bill. Times have very much changed and it seems that Newcastle wont have the money to recreate Kev’s magic which, as we know, would see them finish outside the top 5.
I’ve waffled on for long enough now so I’ll leave you with my favourite words of wisdom from Kev and, of course, the best footage ever on Sky TV.
- “I don’t think there’s anyone bigger or smaller than Maradona.”
- “Despite his white boots, he has real pace.”
“The 33 or 34-year-olds will be 36 or 37 by the time the next World Cup comes around, if they’re not careful.” - “They compare Steve McManaman to Steve Heighway and he’s nothing like him, but I can see why – it’s because he’s a bit different.”
- “I’m not trying to make excuses but I think the lights may have been a problem.”
- “Richard Dunne has always been in the frame for me. When he has been out of the frame it was because he took himself out of it for one reason or another.”
- “England have the best fans in the world, and Scotland’s fans are second-to-none.”
And my favourite…
- “In some ways, cramp is worse than having a broken leg.”
“When you do that with footballers like he said about Leeds; and when you do things like that about a man like Stuart Pearce. I’m I, I, I’ve kept really quiet, but I’ll tell you something: he went down in my estimation when he said that – we have not resorted to that. But I’ll tell ya – you can tell him now, he’ll be watching it – we’re still fighting for this title, and he’s got to go to Middlesbrough and get something, and… and I’ll tell you honestly, I will love it if we beat them – LOVE IT!”
Joseph Kevin Keegan 8 April 1996
Newcastle didn’t beat ‘them’. Keegan handed in his resignation a few games later.
Andy
Just watching Sky Sports News and wondering how all the Geordies who have telephoned in saying how they’ve just named their new born baby boy “Kevin Keegan ……” will be feeling in 2 years time!!!
x
