Kevin Keegan

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Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan in his Liverpool days
Personal information
Full name Joseph Kevin Keegan OBE
Date of birth February 14, 1951 (age 55)
Place of birth Armthorpe, England
Nickname Mighty Mouse
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1968-1971
1971-1977
1977-1980
1980-1982
1982-1984		 Scunthorpe United
Liverpool
Hamburger SV
Southampton
Newcastle United
Total		 124 (18)
230 (68)
90 (32)
68 (37)
78 (48)
590 (203)
National team**
1973-1982 England 63 (21)
Teams managed
1992-1997
1998-1999
1999–2000
2001–2005		 Newcastle United
Fulham
England
Manchester City

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of May 4, 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of May 4, 2006.

Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE (born February 14, 1951 in Armthorpe, South Yorkshire, England)[1] is a former English football coach and one of the all time greatest players. A former England international manager and player, he decided to retire after leaving FA Premier League side Manchester City as club manager on March 10, 2005.

Contents

[edit] Life and playing career

Keegan was rejected by local club Doncaster Rovers but made the grade further towards the east coast when Scunthorpe United offered him terms. He made 120 appearances for the club before an offer of £35,000 was accepted from Liverpool manager Bill Shankly in the summer of 1971, the deal was finalised on the 10th May.[1]

On the 14th August '71 Keegan made his Liverpool debut against Nottingham Forest at Anfield and after just 12 minutes he scored, albeit with a completely mis-hit shot which was all he could muster after he miscontrolled a pass from Peter Thompson. He quickly established himself as a brave, pacey, incisive goalscorer and fan favourite, Keegan was also being tracked by the England making his debut at under-23 level later in 1971, his full debut wasn't long in coming either, it came in a World Cup qualifier against Wales at Ninian Park the following year, the game finished in a 1-0 victory for the English and, more importantly for Keegan, lead to him getting 63 caps. Keegan's first goal for his country also came in a game against Wales at Ninian Park, this time it was a British Home Championship match that England won 2-0 on the 11th May 1974.

In 1973 Keegan won his first domestic honours when he and John Toshack formed the prolific goal-scoring partnership which helped Liverpool win their first League championship for seven years and then add the UEFA Cup. Keegan scored twice in the first leg of the final as Liverpool overcame Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-2 on aggregate. The partnership that he formed with Tosh was almost telepathic at times and was also a commentators dream as their names rollled off the tongue easily, one famous piece of commentary by David Coleman emphasises the duo's partnership exactly, all he said was "Toshack, Keegan, one nil", Shoot the football magazine ot into the act as well getting Tosh and Keegan to dress up in Batman and Robin costumes for a photo shoot, they were Liverpool's Dynamic Duo.

Late in 1973, Keegan was a substitute as England faced Poland at Wembley, needing to win to secure a place at the World Cup the following summer. With the score at 1-1 and England close to elimination, Keegan started to get changed when he heard manager Alf Ramsey say: "Kevin, get ready". Sadly for Keegan, Ramsey was speaking to Derby County striker Kevin Hector, who was duly introduced as a late substitute and very nearly scored with his first touch. Keegan never got on the pitch, the game ended in a draw and England failed to qualify.

The following year Keegan was again a frequent scorer but Liverpool surrendered the League title to a relentless Leeds United team who had gone unbeaten for a then record 29 games at the start of the season. However, Liverpool progressed to the F.A Cup final. Their campaign in the competition had started with a tie against the club who had spurned Keegan, Doncaster Rovers, and it was their homeboy who scored both goals in a 2-2 draw. Liverpool won the replay. Keegan scored twice more on the way to Wembley, including a stunning lob-volley over the head of England colleague Peter Shilton in the semi-final against Leicester City at Villa Park. In the final, Keegan scored two as Liverpool hammered Newcastle United 3-0 - his first a terrific chest-down and volley from 25 yards after Brian Hall had fooled the Newcastle defence by diving under the ball; his second a far-post stretch and tap-in after great work down the flank between Tommy Smith and Steve Heighway. It, was the first brace in an F.A Cup final since Mike Trebilcock scored twice for Everton in 1966.

Keegan's next visit to Wembley was three months later in the Charity Shield game, the traditional curtain-raiser to a new season between the League champions and the F.A Cup winners. However, Keegan's contribution proved less than charitable - he was sent off, along with Leeds, captain Billy Bremner after a scuffle on the pitch. Both players removed their shirts in protest, with Keegan visibly shaken by the decision.

The next year saw Keegan scoring goals and representing his club and country with distinction, but 1975 was a trophyless season for Liverpool and England failed to qualify for the 1976 European Championships. There were honours aplenty for Keegan over the next two years, however, as Liverpool again won the League championship and UEFA Cup. Keegan scored in both legs of the final against FC Bruges, although he had only scored once previously during Liverpool's run in the competition.

In 1977, Keegan was instrumental in Liverpool's charge towards an unprecedented "treble" of League championship, F.A Cup and European Cup, though he rocked the boat midway through the season when he announced his intention to leave in the summer to try his luck on foreign soil. Nevertheless, Keegan was irrepressible as Liverpool clinched the title and reached the finals of both Cup competitions. Keegan's last appearance in a Liverpool shirt on home soil was a sad one, however, as Liverpool lost the F.A Cup final to bitter rivals Manchester United, ruining the "treble" dream. The vintage Liverpool returned for the European Cup final in Rome against Borussia Monchengladbach four days later and Keegan's last ever Liverpool appearance was a glorious one. He didn't score, but Keegan did make the mazy run late on which led to a foul inside the penalty area by Berti Vogts, this lead to a coolly dispatched penalty from Phil Neal which sealed a 3-1 win.

After 323 appearances and exactly 100 goals, Keegan left Liverpool as promised. He had been made many offers from clubs on the continent but chose to join Hamburg SV in Germany for £500,000. Liverpool replaced him with a Scotsman by the name of Kenny Dalglish.

With Hamburg, Keegan became a worldwide superstar and was twice named European Footballer of the Year. He played for them in the 1980 European Cup final, losing to Nottingham Forest, before returning to England to play for Southampton. He continued to play for England, captaining them in the 1980 European Championships in Italy and then finally reached a World Cup when England got to the 1982 finals in Spain.

Keegan was duly named in the squad for the tournament but was suffering from a chronic back injury and was unfit to play in all of England's group games. In a last, desperate effort to play in a World Cup (he knew that he would not be around for the 1986 competition) he secretly hired a car and drove from Spain to a specialist he knew in Germany for intensive treatment. It worked to the extent that he came on as a substitute for a crucial second round pool game against the host nation which England had to win. Unfortunately, his few minutes of World Cup football will be forever remembered for a point blank header which he directed wide with the goal at his mercy.

When Bobby Robson became the new England coach after that World Cup, Keegan was left out of his first squad, a decision he learned of from the media rather than Robson himself. Keegan expressed his public displeasure and never played for his country again. He won a total of 63 caps (and almost certainly would have won considerably more had it not been for England's inability to qualify for three major tournaments during Keegan's international career) and scored 21 goals. He captained his country 31 times.

Keegan joined Newcastle United and spent two seasons there, during which time he was adored by the supporters. He played 78 times, scored 48 goals and helped them to promotion from the Second Division in 1984, within a team which also contained Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle and Terry McDermott. Keegan announced his retirement prior to the end of the 1984 season and on the last day of the season left St James' Park ground by helicopter, still in his kit, after an emotional (and goalscoring) farewell. He moved with his family to Spain and lived an exile's life until the call came back from Newcastle and his career as a manager began.

[edit] Managerial career

[edit] Newcastle

In February 1992, after eight years of retirement and golf in Spain, Keegan returned to the game as manager of Newcastle United. Widely heralded by a loving Newcastle public, as the "Geordie Messiah", he, along with his assistant and close friend Terry McDermott - who Keegan paid out of his own pocket for the first year of their managerial partnership - led Newcastle to promotion to the Premier League as First Division champions in 1993.

Although Keegan was appointed Director of Football in 1994 and agreed a new deal that tied him to the club for next 10 years, he resigned as manager of Newcastle on January 8, 1997.

During Keegan's reign as manager, Newcastle finished runners-up to Manchester United in the Premier League in 1996, with that team christened "The Entertainers". England striker Alan Shearer was transferred from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle with a world breaking record of 15 million pounds ($21.21 million).

It was during his time at Newcastle that Keegan had his famous rant on Sky Sports. Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson (famous for playing psychological games with opponents), had suggested that teams tried harder against Man Utd than Newcastle United. After Newcastle's hard fought victory over Leeds United in their next match an emotional Keegan was interviewed on Sky Sports. Seeming to be on the verge of tears Keegan said:

   
“
 When you do that with footballers like he said about Leeds... 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 if you're watching it - we're still fighting for this title, and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something, and... and I tell you honestly, I'd love it if we beat them - love it.
   
”

This rant came as Newcastle's previous 12 point lead at the top of the Premiership had been eroded. By then their destiny was out of their own hands, Manchester United duly collecting the Title once again.

To this day the majority of Newcastle United fans claim Kevin Keegan has been their best ever manager and also a vast amount of Newcastle United fans keep calling for Keegan's name to return for their next current manager.

[edit] Fulham

On leaving Newcastle, Keegan was appointed as chief operating officer at Second Division club Fulham, with Ray Wilkins as manager. When Wilkins was sacked as manager in 1998, Keegan took over his coaching role. He won the Second Division in 1999 in a record-breaking season, but left to manage England in an unpopular move amongst Fulham fans. Significantly, however, he signed Chris Coleman, who went on to be their manager.

[edit] English International team

Keegan was named new England coach in February 1999 succeeding Glenn Hoddle. He led the team for a winning start with 3-1 win over Poland to reignite England's Euro 2000 qualifying campaign.

After an initial popular period as manager, he began to come under fire for his perceived tactical naivety. This came to a head during the unsuccessful Euro 2000 campaign.

Keegan resigned as England coach on October 7, 2000, after England were eliminated from Euro 2000 at the group stage and lost to a Dietmar Hamann goal for Germany in their first World Cup qualifier in the last game to be played at Wembley Stadium before its demolition and reconstruction.

[edit] Manchester City

He was appointed manager of first division Manchester City on May 24, 2001 replacing Joe Royle. Keegan signed experienced international players such as Stuart Pearce, Eyal Berkovic and Ali Benarbia and ultimately earned the team promotion to the Premiership in a most emphatic manner. His first season as manager saw the team become Division One champions. In his second season as manager(the 2002-03 season) Manchester City came ninth place in the Premier league. But in 2003-04, the club's first season at the new City of Manchester Stadium (Eastlands), City struggled and were in danger of relegation until the beginning of May. The start of that season saw Keegan fall out with one of the teams star players, the playmaker Eyal Berkovic over the latters contract. Keegan refused to play the Israeli international and ultimately sold him to Portsmouth F.C.. Ironically Berkovic's first game for his new team was against Manchester City F.C.. Berkovic was instrumental in a victory for his new team and after the game publicly lambasted Kevin Keegan. He said I don't see any reason why Kevin didn't play me because I was the best player in training for six months and everyone knew that. Man City's 45,000 supporters knew I had to play but Kevin was behaving like a big baby. I told him that and I think he deserves the sack. Berkovic also asserted that Keegan had lost the dressing room. Keegan responded by saying He should learn to keep his counsel. He's entitled to his opinion and he's bitter - but I've no axe to grind. I wished him good luck when he left and tried to make the move as easy as possible as he wanted to go. His comments don't bother me one little bit. I have had worse said about me before and I don't think Eyal will be the only person in my career who says I should be sacked.

Manchester City F.C. finished 16th that season and Keegan was rumoured to be on the verge of being sacked for most of that frustrating campaign after being criticised for bringing in a clutch of expensive older players that were perceived as being past their prime, including Keegan's personal favourite player, Steve McManaman. When the 2004-05 campaign began, he was many people's number one candidate to be the first managerial casualty of the season. City's Premiership form improved that season, but Keegan quit as manager on the 10 March 2005 and decided to retire from football. The club went on to finish eighth under his successor Stuart Pearce narrowly missing out on a place in Europe.

Given the popularity of the man, it was no surprise when he was voted in at No.8 on the Official Liverpool Football Club website poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, the poll took place in the summer of 2006 with over 110,000 Liverpool fans worldwide taking part.


[edit] Statistics

Club Performance
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Newcastle Utd 1983-84 41 27 ? ? ? ? 0 0 ? ? 41 27
1982-83 37 21 ? ? ? ? 0 0 ? ? 37 21
Southampton F.C. 1981-82 41 26 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 41 26
1980-81 27 11 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 27 11
Club Season First Bundesliga German Cup Liga Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Hamburger SV 1979-80 31 9 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 31 9
1978-79 34 17 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 34 17
1977-78 25 6 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 25 6
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Liverpool F.C. 1976-77 38 12 8 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 57 20
1975-76 41 12 2 1 3 0 11 3 0 0 57 16
1974-75 33 10 2 1 3 0 3 1 1 0 42 12
1973-74 42 12 9 6 6 1 4 0 0 0 61 19
1972-73 41 13 4 0 8 5 11 4 0 0 64 22
1971-72 35 9 3 2 1 0 3 0 0 0 42 11
Scunthorpe United 1970-71 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1969-70 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1968-69 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Total 466 185 28 14 23 6 40 12 2 0 559 217

[edit] Honours

Keegan was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as both a player and manager.

[edit] Career honours

[edit] Honours as player

[edit] England Liverpool

Winner

Runner Up

[edit] Germany Hamburger SV

Winner

Runner Up

[edit] England Newcastle United

Winner

[edit] Honours as manager

[edit] England Newcastle United

Winner

Runner Up

[edit] England Fulham

Winner

[edit] England Manchester City

Winner

[edit] The future

Despite announcing his retirement from football on quitting Manchester City in 2004-05, the 54-year-old Keegan was linked with the manager of Scottish Premier League leaders Hearts in October 2005 following the sudden resignation of manager George Burley. Keegan's name resurfaced on 1 January 2006, when he was linked with a shock return to management with English Premier League strugglers Sunderland. In May 2006, Keegan was set to join Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem for a reported £1.5 million a year, but he pulled out following the news being leaked to the press.[2] In August 2006, Doncaster Rovers were reportedly wanting Keegan to be their new manager following Dave Penney's resignation on August 30.

[edit] Trivia

  • Keegan infamously advertised Brut aftershave alongside boxing legend Henry Cooper in the late 1970s. During his career he has also advertised Dentyne chewing gum and Sugar Puffs cereal.
  • One of the first real celebrities of the game, Keegan has famously never refused an autograph request from a fan.
  • Sang Head Over Heels in Love, a song written by Chris Norman and Pete Spencer released on 9 June 1979. A non-football song, it peaked as high as 31st in the charts.[3]
  • Released a second single, "England", on his return to England from Germany. This single failed to chart.
  • Keegan is married to Jean and has two daughters. Both girls were born in Hamburg.
  • He was awarded the OBE in 1982.
  • He speaks fluent German and Spanish.
  • Keegan was famous for having a mullet haircut.
  • Keegan is remembered for crashing his bicycle in a European Superstars race. Despite scraping himself up badly, he insisted on re-racing and secured second place in the event, before going on to win that edition of the programme.
  • After his transfer from Southampton to Newcastle in 1982, a helicopter that was transferred from HMS Newcastle to HMS Southampton was named Kev in his honour.

[edit] Quotes

  • On his playing days: "The only thing I fear is missing an open goal in front of the Kop. I would die if that were to happen. When they start singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' my eyes start to water. There have been times when I've actually been crying while I've been playing." (Source)
  • "In some ways, cramp is worse than having a broken leg."
  • Referring to Emile Heskey: "He's using his strength and that is his strength, his strength." (Source)
  • "I came to Nantes two years ago and it's much the same today, except that it's completely different." (Source)
  • Referring to Liverpool Players: "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." (Source)

[edit] References

  • Jeremy Wilson (2006). Southampton’s Cult Heroes. Know The Score Books. ISBN 1-905449-01-1.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b BBC Sport Fact file. Url accessed 14 July 2006.
  2. ^ [1] Keegan's Israel switch off
  3. ^ [2] Head over Heels in Love

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Preceded by
Alan Mullery		 Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year
1976		 Succeeded by
Emlyn Hughes
Preceded by
Emlyn Hughes		 England football captain
1976-1982		 Succeeded by
Ray Wilkins
Preceded by
Allan Simonsen		 European Footballer of the Year
1978, 1979		 Succeeded by
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Preceded by
John Wark		 PFA Players' Player of the Year
1982		 Succeeded by
Kenny Dalglish
Preceded by
Osvaldo Ardiles		 Newcastle Utd Manager
1992-1997		 Succeeded by
Terry McDermott (caretaker)
Preceded by
Ray Wilkins		 Fulham F.C. Manager
1998-1999		 Succeeded by
Paul Bracewell
Preceded by
Howard Wilkinson (caretaker)		 England national football team manager
1999–2000		 Succeeded by
Howard Wilkinson (caretaker)
Preceded by
Joe Royle		 Manchester City F.C. manager
2001-2005		 Succeeded by
Stuart Pearce
England England squad - 1982 World Cup England

1 Clemence | 2 Anderson | 3 Brooking | 4 Butcher | 5 Coppell | 6 Foster | 7 Keegan | 8 Francis | 9 Hoddle | 10 McDermott | 11 Mariner | 12 Mills | 13 Corrigan | 14 Neal | 15 Rix | 16 Robson | 17 Sansom | 18 Thompson | 19 Wilkins | 20 Withe | 21 Woodcock | 22 Shilton | Coach: Greenwood
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