Kevin Keegan wore his heart on his sleeve as both a player and manager, and the fans loved him for it.
The former England forward, who has died of cancer at 75, combined charisma and impulsive passion with an ability to score the goals that mattered while never losing sight of where he had come from and what the game meant to so many.
“The fans made me,” former club Liverpool recalled their ‘Mighty Mouse’ as saying once.
“When they started singing my name – what am I, five foot seven with Cuban-heeled boots? But [because of them] I was six foot six.”
Known also as ‘King Kev,’ Keegan was hailed as a savior on Tyneside when he returned to his old club Newcastle as manager in 1992 to stave off relegation to the third tier and take the Magpies back to the top flight with the likes of Andy Cole, David Ginola and Peter Beardsley. Keegan’s father Joe had been a miner in a South Yorkshire colliery and was a Newcastle fan.
In the 1995-96 season Newcastle had soared 12 points clear in the title race with their attacking approach, only to be caught and overtaken by Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
The pressure took its toll on Keegan and he showed his vulnerability, and impulsiveness, with a finger-jabbing television rant after beating Leeds 1-0 that has gone down in Premier League lore and is oft-repeated: “I would love it if we beat them. Love it.”
Manchester United won the title and Keegan left Newcastle in 1997, telling the fans: “I feel I have taken the club as far as I can.”
He returned for a second brief and unsuccessful stint in 2008.
Appointed England manager in 1999, the former captain’s ill-fated reign was a rollercoaster that veered from a feel-good 3-1 win over Poland in his first game at Wembley to the final 1-0 defeat to Germany in the last international played at the old Empire Stadium in October 2000.
As a player, with a 1970s trademark perm hairstyle, Keegan was demonstrably world class.
He began his career as an apprentice at lowly Scunthorpe United, after being rejected elsewhere for being too small, before being signed by Liverpool manager Bill Shankly and joining as a 20-year-old in 1971. He scored on his debut and went on to make 323 appearances and score 100 goals for Liverpool across six seasons, winning three league titles, one FA Cup, two Uefa Cups and then the European Cup in his last game for the club.
Moving to Hamburg, a surprise choice with bigger European clubs interested, Keegan was twice European Footballer of the Year and the only Briton to win the Ballon d’Or twice.
He was capped 63 times for England, 31 as captain.
REUTERS
