Kevin Keegan

Early years

Joseph Kevin Keegan was born on 14 February 1951 at his aunt Nellie's house in Elm Place in Armthorpe, as she had electricity, which made it safer for childbirth. He was the second of three children of Joe and Doris Keegan. His father, a Geordie, had moved to Armthorpe, in Doncaster (then in the West Riding of Yorkshire) to work in a colliery, where he met and married Doris. Keegan attended St Peter's High School in nearby Cantley.

Keegan's paternal ancestors arrived in Newcastle from Ireland. In 1909, his grandfather Frank, an inspector, heroically saved lives in the West Stanley Pit disasters. His father Joe and uncle Frank were Newcastle United supporters, describing their favourite players as Hughie Gallacher and Jackie Milburn. Keegan's father never saw him play for Newcastle.

Keegan was given his first football by his uncle and his first pair of football boots by his father after he won betting on horses. They were a second-hand pair of Winit boots bought from a sports shop run by former Doncaster Rovers centre forward Ray Harrison. Keegan played football at Hyde Park using his baby brother Michael's pushchair as a goal post. As a boy, he supported Doncaster Rovers. His favourite player was Alick Jeffrey, a player once described by Matt Busby's assistant, Jimmy Murphy, as the English Pelé, and once described by Milburn as "the best young player he had ever seen". As a schoolboy, Keegan had a trial for Coventry City under manager Jimmy Hill. Despite being one of two players kept on for an extra six-week period, the club did not offer him a contract. They did offer apprenticeship terms to the right-back Brian Joy, who went on to have a 15-year career in football. Keegan had another trial with Doncaster Rovers arranged by his father, but when he arrived he found out he had the wrong information: the trial was earlier in the day and at a different place.

Keegan participated in various sports, including cross-country running, rugby, and football, and served his school's cricket team as captain. He also boxed at his local club, run by the former British Heavyweight champion Bruce Woodcock. At age 15, Keegan and two friends completed a 50-mile run from Nottingham to Doncaster. In his autobiography, he said this run prepared him physically and psychologically for any running he had to do in future pre-season training or football matches. He left school with O Levels in History and Art.

Club career

1966–1971: Scunthorpe United

Scunthorpe United could not afford a set of football nets and trained on a rugby pitch at Quibell Park. They also had five-a-side training sessions on the Old Show Ground concrete car park. Keegan took training very seriously, and he did twice-a-week training with teammate Derek Hemstead by doing weighted farmers walks up and down the cantilever stand at the Old Show Ground. In running drills at Scunthorpe, Keegan liked trying to finish first and was told by coach Jack Brownsword that one thing he had going for him was that he was a "one-hundred percenter" and he should never lose that. This was the first of his running drills that would later irritate senior professionals such as Liverpool's Tommy Smith, and Bill Shankly would advise Keegan that he did not have to win all his runs.

Scunthorpe did not have the funds for a full-time driver to drive them to away games, so Keegan and the other younger players would take turns in driving the minibus to and from away games. Keegan, Nigel Jackson, Jimmy Coyne, Alan Olbison and Steve Hibbotson once borrowed Brownsword's stopwatch and had timed rallies around the Old Show Ground with the club's vintage tractor. On Keegan's turn, the tractor crashed and the axle went through the engine. The tractor was very expensive to fix, and the five players were harshly reprimanded by manager Ron Ashman. This experience gave Keegan awareness of his responsibility as a representative of Scunthorpe United. In 1968, Keegan made his debut against Peterborough United at the age of 17, and went on to make 29 league starts in his first season. He became a regular in the first team by the 1969–70 season, playing all 46 league games for the club. That season saw the team reach the fifth round of the FA Cup, beating First Division side Sheffield Wednesday along the way. His low wages at Scunthorpe meant Keegan had to find summer jobs, such as plate-laying at the Appleby Frodingham Steelworks.

Keegan played regularly in a creative right midfield role for the Scunthorpe first team, scoring 18 goals in 124 games for the club. After his first season, he started attracting interest from higher division clubs. In a rare televised interview at Scunthorpe during the 1969–70 season, Keegan tried to play down the interest, stating: "I'm getting first-team football here. Should think if I went First Division, I'd struggle a bit." Not long after this interview, Keegan began to feel impatient about playing in higher divisions and even considered quitting the game and getting a full-time job. Higher division clubs such as Preston North End, Birmingham City, Notts County, Millwall and Arsenal all showed interest in Keegan but nothing came of it.

1971–1977: Liverpool

In 1971, Keegan attracted the attention of Liverpool's head scout Geoff Twentyman, whose opinion was held in high regard by manager Bill Shankly. After Twentyman's recommendation, Liverpool made an offer for Keegan which Scunthorpe accepted. After Scunthorpe agreed to the fee offered, Keegan was driven the four hours to Liverpool by manager Ron Ashman, who was determined to get a cash influx for the club. Prior to the journey, Keegan's father advised Keegan to not sell himself cheap. Keegan negotiated a contract worth £50 a week after Shankly had originally offered him £45. Ashman, sensing the deal may fall through, was at one stage aghast at Keegan's negotiation tactics. On the drive back to Scunthorpe, Ashman was critical of Keegan's bluff that he was earning almost £45 a week at a Fourth Division club. After the negotiation, 20-year-old Keegan was transferred to Liverpool for a fee of £33,000.

Liverpool bought Keegan as a midfielder, but Shankly soon decided to move Keegan up front alongside John Toshack. In a reserve match against Tranmere Rovers, Keegan played right midfield, and after playing with an attacking mindset he was strongly warned by Ronnie Moran that he was "playing too free and easy", and "nearly playing up front". Keegan took Moran's criticism as a slight, and for a period perceived that Moran strongly had it in for him. As a result of Keegan's lack of positional discipline, he was tested up front in a preseason reserve match against Southport. Keegan scored both goals in a 2–1 victory observed by Shankly. Liverpool then tried Keegan in attack at Melwood in a game between the first team and reserves. Keegan played for the first team and scored four in a 7–0 victory. His attacking ability prompted Shankly to keep Keegan up front, and he was immediately deployed as the new strike partner for Toshack. Though Keegan liked Toshack as a teammate, they did not socialise off the pitch, and Keegan said it was strange how quickly they could understand each other's play styles. Keegan said that the only other player who reached that level of football understanding with him was England international Trevor Brooking. On 14 August 1971, Keegan made his Liverpool debut against Nottingham Forest at Anfield, scoring after 12 minutes. Keegan's impact at Liverpool became such that Shankly devoted an entire chapter of his autobiography to him entitled A Boy Called Keegan, and called him "the inspiration of the new team". Shankly's advice to Keegan before a game was "just go out and drop a few hand grenades all over the place son." On his relationship with Shankly and the supporters, Keegan would write, "Liverpool made me, not just as a footballer but as a person."

In the 1972–73 season, Keegan won his first major titles. As the season was coming to a close, Liverpool was in a tight race with Leeds United and Arsenal for the top spot in the First Division. Don Revie's Leeds squad visited Anfield for a showdown on Easter Monday. Two plays on either side of halftime decided the match. First, Leeds' Peter Lorimer missed an open goal just before halftime. Two minutes after the break, Peter Cormack scored to put Liverpool ahead. Keegan added a late second goal to seal the win. Arsenal dropped a point at Southampton, and Liverpool clinched the title with a 0–0 draw against Leicester City in the final game. This was their first major trophy since 1966. In the UEFA Cup, Liverpool reached the final, where they would face German side Borussia Mönchengladbach. The first leg at Anfield was abandoned after 27 minutes due to a downpour and rescheduled for the next day. The 27 minutes they played gave Shankly an insight into Mönchengladbach's defensive vulnerability in the air. To exploit this, he brought tall forward Toshack into the starting team, demoting the smaller Brian Hall, who appeared only as a late substitute. Keegan scored two goals set up by Toshack headers in a 3–0 win. Liverpool lost the second leg 2–0 away, winning the title 3–2 on aggregate.

1977–1980: Hamburger SV

Keegan's transfer to Hamburger SV was agreed between the FA Cup final and the European Cup final of 1977, although Keegan had negotiated a maximum transfer fee the season before. The agreement set the British record transfer fee at £500,000, and nearly doubled the German transfer record. Keegan arrived in Germany, joining a club that had not finished higher than sixth in two decades. He told ITV's Brian Moore that his annual salary the last season he played for Liverpool was £22,000, whereas at Hamburg it was £122,000.

Following his move to Hamburg, Keegan became an early trendsetter with his new haircut, a perm. On first sight, his wife thought it was hilarious and his agent jokingly tried to disown him in public. Soon though, players such as Bryan Robson, Charlie George, Phil Neal, Terry McDermott also had perms. Later, when Keegan was at Newcastle United as a manager, he and McDermott would joke about the perm in an advertisement. Keegan became Hamburg's best-paid player and was billed by the club's business manager, Dr. Peter Krohn, as the superstar signing from England who would transform an average German team. Keegan did not feel immediately accepted by his new teammates, and perceived slights from teammates that supported this idea, like making an open run in training but not receiving a pass.

Rules stated that no club was allowed more than two foreign players on its squad. Unbeknownst to Keegan, his transfer had indirectly moved out the three-time European Cup winner Horst Blankenburg. Blankenburg was a very popular member of the squad, and this upset some players. There was also some resentment among the other players who thought that the previous coach, whom the players liked, was replaced by Krohn to accommodate Keegan. It was not until Keegan had moved out of temporary accommodation and moved to a bungalow in the little village of Itzstedt that Keegan began to feel he could make inroads and have a successful career and life in Germany.

In one early interview, Keegan mentioned how he was settling in, he explained how he missed British cereals that he could not find in the supermarkets in Germany. The Hamburg supporters then flooded him with parcels of his favourite cereal with lists of the suppliers. There were language difficulties early on. In one instance in the summer, Keegan went into a hardware shop intending to buy a fuse and he eventually left the shop after buying Christmas lights.

1980–1982: Southampton

On 11 February 1980, Southampton boss Lawrie McMenemy called a press conference at the Potters Heron Hotel in Ampfield to announce that Keegan would join the Saints in the summer. The news caused surprise throughout the world of football and around the city of Southampton, as they were a relatively small club. The club was beginning to become established in the top division, but this signing showed how persuasive their manager could be.

Keegan had a clause in his contract with Hamburg that gave Liverpool the option to buy him back. Liverpool, however, opted not to exercise this clause. As late as November 2011, Keegan stated, "I was with Lawrie [McMenemy] at a charity event the other day, and he said he phoned up Peter Robinson because he wanted me, but Liverpool had a clause. Peter said, 'No, we won't be signing him, definitely, we don't need him.'" Southampton snapped him up for £420,000, and Keegan made his Southampton debut at Lansdowne Road in a pre-season friendly against Shamrock Rovers on 23 July 1980.

Keegan's two seasons at The Dell saw him as part of a flamboyant team also containing Alan Ball, Phil Boyer, Mick Channon and Charlie George. In 1980–81, the Saints scored 76 goals, finishing in sixth place, their highest league finish to that point.

In the following season, Keegan played some of his best football, and at the beginning of April 1982, Southampton sat at the top of the First Division table. They managed only three wins after February, however, leading to a seventh-place finish, 21 points off first place. Despite this, Keegan was voted the PFA Player of the Year and awarded the OBE for services to Association Football. Keegan had scored 26 of the team's 72 league goals and was voted the club's Player of the Season by the Southern Daily Echo. This second season was the most prolific of his career, scoring 30 goals in all competitions and winning the golden boot.

Keegan fell out with McMenemy over the manager's failure to strengthen Southampton's defence (which conceded 67 goals in the 1981–82 season) while the team was at the top of the table. There were also rumours that McMenemy had accused the whole team of cheating after a 3–0 defeat by Aston Villa in April 1982, to which Keegan took great exception. Although Keegan joined the Saints' next pre–season tour, he had already decided to move. In 2019, McMenemy explained that prior to the start of the 1982–83 season, Keegan believed that Southampton did not match his footballing ambitions, he had made up his mind and demanded to leave, and there was nothing the club could do about it. A few days before the start of the season, he signed for Newcastle United for a fee of £100,000.

1982–1984: Newcastle United

Keegan joined Newcastle United and spent two seasons there, during which time he was extremely popular with the supporters. The press conference to announce his signing was held in the Gosforth Park Hotel. Reacting to the two-time Ballon d'Or winner joining a Second Division team, a local newspaper's main headline was simply, "Here he is!"

Keegan always felt at one stage in his career he would play for Newcastle. As a child, Keegan's father would tell him football stories about Hughie Gallacher and Jackie Milburn. Jackie Milburn became a football journalist after his playing days and Keegan's father sent Milburn letters expressing how well Keegan was playing. Keegan claimed that his father would have loved to have seen him playing football in black and white stripes, and to Keegan, playing for Newcastle felt like coming home. There was euphoria in Newcastle at the signing of Keegan and he felt he was there to help the supporters to start believing in themselves. Keegan had never experienced that kind of deification before. He explained, no one could have made him more welcome. People had warned Keegan that whatever he was thinking his welcome would be like, it would not be enough. To Keegan, who had played in a European Cup final, Wembley and Hamburg, the atmosphere on his debut was unique, explaining that the noise on his debut came from all sides of the ground like a surround sound system. He made his debut and scored his first goal against Queens Park Rangers. After scoring, Keegan did something he had never done before – he instinctively and famously threw himself into the crowd to show the supporters he was one of them. He explained to the press afterwards that "I just wanted to stay there for ever..." Keegan had a fear of letting the supporters down, constantly telling himself, "You can't let them down."

Keegan, along with Terry McDermott, Jeff Clarke and David McCreery, now had senior status at the club. Newcastle manager, Arthur Cox, who would later join many of Keegan's coaching staffs, had a different relationship to Keegan than with other players. Cox would ask Keegan his opinion on players. To Keegan, Cox was a task master with a good sense of humour. Cox would condition the players like commandos by having Keegan and his teammates run up and down the hills in Gateshead. In his first season, Newcastle finished fifth, which Keegan maintained was a "flattering" league position, after a faltering season. He finished the season with 21 goals in 37 appearances and won North East Player of the Year.

1985: Blacktown City

In April 1985, Keegan briefly came out of retirement to play a two-game stint as a guest player for Blacktown City in Australia's National Soccer League. He scored on his debut in a 3–2 loss to Canberra City.

International career

During 1972, Keegan made five appearances for the England under-23 team, with his only goal coming in a friendly match against East Germany. That same match also saw Keegan receive his only red card at international level.

Keegan made his England debut on 15 November 1972 in a 1–0 World Cup qualifying win over Wales. Keegan managed only two appearances during this campaign, both against Wales, as England failed to qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He scored his first international goal in his third appearance, also against Wales, on 11 May 1974. He was given the captaincy by manager Don Revie in 1976 after Gerry Francis fell victim to a long-term injury. He went on to captain England 31 times, retaining the captain's armband until his international retirement after the 1982 World Cup.

Keegan captained England at Euro 1980. England failed to progress from the group stage after finishing third in their group behind Italy and Belgium.

He managed only one World Cup appearance, as England failed to qualify for both the 1974 and 1978 tournaments. He finally reached the World Cup in 1982, held in Spain. He was named in the squad for the tournament, but was suffering from a chronic back injury and was unfit to play in any of England's group games. In a last desperate effort to play in a World Cup – knowing 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. He recovered sufficiently to appear as a substitute for the last 26 minutes of England's second-round game against Spain. While on the pitch, he missed a point-blank header which would have put England ahead. England needed to win by a scoreline better than 2–1 to progress to the semi-finals (a 2–1 victory would have left them tied with West Germany). England drew the game 0–0 and were eliminated from the competition.

Following the successful start to the 1982–83 season with Newcastle United, there was much controversy when newly appointed England manager Bobby Robson did not select Keegan for his first squad, a decision Keegan learned of from the media rather than Robson himself. Keegan publicly expressed his displeasure at not being given the courtesy of a phone call from Robson, and never played for his country again. He finished his international career with 63 caps and 21 goals.

Managerial career

Newcastle United

On 5 February 1992, almost eight years after his final game as a player, Keegan returned to Newcastle United as manager. The club had been relegated from the top flight in 1989 and narrowly missed out on promotion in 1990 after losing in the playoffs to arch-rivals Sunderland. In 1991, they failed to make the playoffs and occupied last place in the Second Division at several stages. Following the dismissal of previous manager Ossie Ardiles, Keegan was appointed to prevent Newcastle from being relegated to the third tier for the first time in the club's history. The club was suffering from internal struggles and boardroom battles which were holding them back. After three or more years trying, John Hall had recently won the board room from the old regime. Though Hall was not yet confirmed as the chairman, he had accrued enough power to make the key decisions. Hall told board members one hour before Keegan's first press conference that he would be the manager. Keegan had watched only two live matches in seven years. One was the European Cup final in 1991, the other being a goalless draw between Newcastle and Blackburn Rovers; as such, it was suggested that Keegan was unprepared and inexperienced.

When Keegan turned up to Benwell for his first training session as manager, he noted the training ground was in a mess. He was surprised at the neglect of the facilities. The training ground was in the process of being sold; despite this, Keegan paid for the clean-up of the grounds with his own money, with the cleaning work being done in one weekend. Keegan felt this clean-up work was an important move and an indirect message to the players that their professionalism had to be high.

Assessing the squad, Keegan felt the team was not good enough to reach the level at which he and Terry McDermott once played. In five-a-sides he and McDermott, both in their 40s with a lack of conditioning, believed they were two of the best players. Keegan noted the club had an impressive crop of youth players. This crop included: Lee Clark, Steve Watson, Steve Howey, Alan Thompson and Robbie Elliott. These young players would form the core of Keegan's Newcastle squads from 1992 to 1997. Keegan noted Watson would take throw-ins via a somersault throw and this amused and shocked him. He regarded it as a gimmick and could not believe the club's supporters would take joy in it. The throw-in, to Keegan, was a sign of how far Newcastle had fallen. He wanted the club to be known for scoring goals and thrilling football. Prior to his first game, Keegan made his first tough call with his squad of players when he dropped Clark. Though he liked Clark's spirit, Keegan believed he was at risk of being sent off. Prior to the game, Keegan arranged a training match for the reserves and included himself to make up the numbers. In the training match, a frustrated Clark went through the back of Keegan in a knee-high tackle on a hospital pass, in a similar way to a Romeo Benetti tackle on Keegan in an England–Italy match. A melee ensued, resulting in Pavel Srníček swinging a roundhouse kick at Clark's head. Keegan was not upset and he did not punish either player. To Keegan, Srníček and Clark's response showed they cared about their football. Keegan's first game, against Bristol City, ended in 3–0 victory in front of a capacity crowd.

Fulham

Keegan returned to football on 25 September 1997 as chief operating officer at Second Division Fulham, with Ray Wilkins as head coach. Fulham finished sixth in the final table, but Wilkins was sacked just before the first leg of the playoff semi-final and Keegan took over as manager.

His appointment came a few months after the takeover of the club by Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, who gave Keegan £10 million to spend on players that season. That was the first part of a £40 million attempt to deliver Premier League football to the Craven Cottage club, who had been outside the top flight since 1968, and had not played in the league's second tier since 1986.

Keegan was unable to inspire Fulham to overcome Grimsby Town in the playoffs, but good form in the 1998–99 season – helped by the acquisition of players who would normally have signed with Premier League or First Division clubs – clinched them the Second Division title and promotion to First Division. Keegan left at the end of the season to concentrate on his duties as England manager, having succeeded Glenn Hoddle in February 1999.

Fulham replaced Keegan with Paul Bracewell and reached the Premier League two years later under Bracewell's successor, Jean Tigana. The squad still featured many of the players bought by Keegan or Wilkins.

England

After weeks of speculation, Keegan was named as the new England manager on 18 February 1999. He succeeded Glenn Hoddle, who had been sacked two weeks earlier for a newspaper interview in which he suggested that disabled people were being punished for their sins in a previous life. Keegan led the team to a winning start with 3–1 victory over Poland to reignite England's campaign to qualify for Euro 2000 in Group 5 following a slow start to the qualifiers. Points dropped in draws against Sweden, Bulgaria, and the return fixture against Poland left England facing elimination as the end of the qualifying stages neared. Poland lost their last match to Sweden, and England finished second in the group to gain a place in the qualification playoff with Scotland. Two goals from Paul Scholes gave them a 2–0 win in the first leg, and despite a 1–0 defeat in the second leg, they qualified for the championships for the fourth straight tournament.

This success brought goodwill, but Keegan began to come under fire for his perceived tactical naivety. This came to a head during the unsuccessful Euro 2000 tournament. England began with a 3–2 defeat against Portugal, despite having a 2–0 lead after 17 minutes. England beat Germany 1-0 in their next game, the first English victory over Germany in a competitive match since the 1966 World Cup final. In the final group game against Romania, England once again lost 3–2, this time after taking a 2–1 lead, and their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals were over. Despite this disappointment, Keegan remained in charge of the national side.

Keegan resigned as England manager on 7 October 2000. This came after England lost to Germany in their first 2002 World Cup qualifier, the last game played at Wembley Stadium before it was rebuilt. Keegan won only 38.9% of his games in charge, the lowest such percentage of any permanent England manager – although unlike Don Revie (1974–1977) or Steve McClaren (2006–2007), Keegan achieved qualification to a major tournament for England.

When Sven-Göran Eriksson became England manager, he appointed the 64-year-old Tord Grip as his assistant. This caused Keegan to complain that when he was England manager, the FA had told him that he could not have Arthur Cox as his assistant because at 60, Cox was too old for the role, although he was allowed a lesser role on the coaching staff. Keegan went on, "I wasn't allowed to bring in the people I wanted and that was wrong. Mr. Eriksson was and I'm delighted for him because that's the way it should be."

Manchester City

On 24 May 2001, Keegan returned to football as successor to Joe Royle at Manchester City, who had just been relegated from the Premier League. Keegan signed experienced international players such as Stuart Pearce, Eyal Berkovic and Ali Benarbia. That season, City were promoted as First Division champions after scoring 108 league goals. Keegan was the first manager in the Premier League era to win the First Division title with two different clubs.

In preparation for his second season as manager (2002–03), he signed Nicolas Anelka, Peter Schmeichel and Marc-Vivien Foé. That season saw mixed results. City beat Liverpool at Anfield and took four points from Manchester United with their first win in the Manchester derby since September 1989), but conceded five goals away to Chelsea and again at home to Arsenal. They secured their Premier League status comfortably by finishing ninth. Keegan also guided City into the UEFA Cup, qualifying via the UEFA Fair Play ranking.

For the 2003–04 season, the club's first season at the new City of Manchester Stadium, Keegan added Steve McManaman, Paul Bosvelt, David Seaman and Michael Tarnat to City's squad. City started well and were fifth in the league by the start of November. However, a draw at home to Polish minnows Groclin led to their second round elimination from the UEFA Cup, which was followed by a slump in form. City did not win again in the league until 21 February, and finished 16th in the league. The most notable match of the season came at Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup on 4 February 2004. Despite being down 3–0 at halftime (with ten men after Joey Barton was sent off), City came back to win 4–3.

The 2004–05 season brought better form for City, but Keegan agreed to leave as manager on 10 March 2005 after telling the chairman his desire to retire from football at the end of the season. The club went on to finish eighth under his successor Stuart Pearce, and only missed out on a UEFA Cup place when Robbie Fowler missed a penalty in stoppage time of a 1–1 draw with Middlesbrough on the last day of the season. Earlier that season, while still under Keegan's management, City beat Chelsea 1–0 which turned out to be the only defeat in the league that season for Chelsea, who ended up as Premier League champions.

After declaring his retirement from football in 2005, Keegan remained out of the media spotlight, working at the Soccer Circus football school in Glasgow. In October 2007, he indicated he was unlikely to manage again.

Return to Newcastle

Following the dismissal of manager Sam Allardyce, Keegan made an unexpected return to Newcastle United on 16 January 2008. Newcastle supporters welcomed the manager back as he arrived to see the FA Cup third round replay against Stoke City, alongside owner Mike Ashley and chairman Chris Mort. He managed his first game at the club since 1997 against Bolton Wanderers on 19 January. He awarded the club captaincy to Michael Owen, stating, "He's not scared to give his opinion when he's right, and he's not scared to say what he feels. He's a tremendous professional, and he trains properly every day." Keegan announced on 22 January that he and Alan Shearer held talks about the two linking up, with Shearer as his assistant, but decided against the idea, leaving the door open for Shearer to take other roles.

Keegan failed to win any of his first eight games back at Newcastle. On 22 March, Newcastle earned the first win of Keegan's second managerial spell, a 2–0 victory against his former club, Fulham. The team followed it up with wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland, maintaining his perfect record over the club's local rivals in the Tyne-Wear derby, and also putting Newcastle on top of the league's form chart. This run of good form was hugely thanks to a new 4–3–3 formation, spearheaded by the productive strike trio of Owen, Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka. The trio scored 11 of the club's 14 goals in this run, which safely secured the club from a relegation battle. Newcastle's seven-game unbeaten run came to an end in a home defeat to Chelsea, and they finished the season in 12th place.

That summer, Newcastle signed Argentine winger Jonás Gutiérrez, as well as his countryman, defender Fabricio Coloccini from Deportivo de La Coruña, among others. Newcastle began the 2008–09 season with a 1–1 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford, having lost the previous season's fixtures 6–0 and 5–1. They beat Bolton 1–0 the following week, and Coventry City 3–2 in the second round of the League Cup on 26 August.

As the 2007–08 season drew to a close, rumours of tensions between the club's directors and Keegan began to surface, as he publicly criticised the board, claiming they were not providing him the financial support necessary to break into the top four of the Premier League standings. His accusations caused bad press for owner Mike Ashley, who was already battling reports that he had lost hundreds of millions of pounds in a disastrous stock market venture.

Media appearances

In 1976, Keegan competed on BBC's television programme Superstars. Despite suffering severe cuts after crashing his bicycle, he insisted on re-racing and secured second place in the event, before going on to win that edition of the programme. He also advertised Brut aftershave alongside boxer Henry Cooper.

In 1979, Keegan and his wife were featured on ITV's Brian Moore meets Kevin Keegan, a documentary filmed over the course of the season. Cameras documented activities at the family's Hamburg home and Keegan's personal business appearances. The same year, during his daughter's christening reception at a London hotel, Eamonn Andrews, the presenter of This Is Your Life, emerged from a giant cake to surprise Keegan and his guests with his famous big red book. The television show was broadcast on Keegan's 28th birthday, ten days later. Keegan quipped, "I'm so glad that I wore brown trousers."

He narrated the 90-minute documentary Keegan on Keegan, released via Castle Vision on VHS cassette in 1992.

In 1993, a football manager video game featuring Keegan was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Kevin Keegan's Player Manager.

In 1999, Zig Zag Productions produced the documentary Football Stories: Kevin Keegan, which was broadcast on Channel 5 under the title Kevin Keegan - Football Messiah?. The documentary explored Keegan's career as both a player and manager, from his rise at Liverpool and Hamburg to his managerial achievements with Newcastle United and England.

In August 2009, nearly a year after his departure from Newcastle, Keegan was confirmed as the lead pundit on ESPN UK. During the course of the 2010 World Cup, Keegan featured as a pundit for ITV. He was part of ESPN's live coverage of the 2011, 2012 and 2013 FA Cup finals, with pitchside build-up and post-match commentary.

Music

Keegan released a single in 1972 titled "It Ain't Easy". His song "Head Over Heels in Love", written by Chris Norman and Pete Spencer, was released on 9 June 1979. It peaked at number 31 in the UK charts, but climbed to number 10 in Germany where Keegan was based at the time, and where Norman's band Smokie was popular. He released another single, "England", on his return to England from Germany, but it failed to chart.

Personal life

In September 1970, Keegan met his future wife, Jean Woodhouse, on the Waltzers at Doncaster fair. They married on 23 September 1974 and had two daughters.

Keegan became renowned for his "poodle perm" hair in the 1970s and regularly appeared at the top of "worst hairstyles" surveys.

In July 2008, Flybe International announced the naming of one of its new Bombardier Q400 aircraft in honour of Keegan's service to Newcastle United, both as a player and as manager. The plane was used on the regular service from Newcastle International Airport to London's Gatwick Airport.

He made appearances at charity cricket matches for Lord's Taverners and Sussex Cricket Club.

In April 1991, he was attacked while sleeping in his Range Rover in a car park near the M25 at Reigate Hill in Surrey. His assailants later said in court that they needed money for a drug debt and did not know they were attacking Keegan.

Death and tributes

Keegan died from stomach cancer on 20 July 2026, aged 75. His family had announced the diagnosis in January, and in June, he disclosed that the cancer was stage four.

Following Keegan's death, Newcastle United issued a tribute describing him as "one of the most iconic, influential and deeply loved figures" in the club's history and calling him "the beating heart of Newcastle United". Liverpool said his "indomitable spirit" and contribution would be "forever etched" in their history. England and Manchester City also expressed condolences, with City noting his role in helping establish them as a Premier League club. Hamburg said: "HSV mourns the passing of one of the greatest footballers ever to wear the shirt" and that it would "always honour the memory of a member of the club’s title-winning side and a two-time Ballon d’Or winner." William, Prince of Wales, president of the Football Association, said he was "incredibly saddened" by Keegan's death and called him "a truly remarkable footballer and manager". Alan Shearer, whom Keegan signed for Newcastle, posted, "My hero. My manager. My friend. Sleep easy Boss."

Career statistics

International

Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Keegan goal.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 30 November 2013.

Honours

Player

Source:

Liverpool

Football League First Division: 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77

FA Cup: 1973–74; runner-up: 1976–77

FA Charity Shield: 1974, 1976

European Cup: 1976–77

UEFA Cup: 1972–73, 1975–76

Hamburg

Bundesliga: 1978–79

European Cup runner-up: 1979–80

England

British Home Championship: 1973, 1975, 1979, 1982

Individual

Ballon d'Or: 1978, 1979

kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80

Inducted into the inaugural English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Named 8th on the Liverpool list of 100 Players who shook the Kop.

PFA Team of the Year: 1975–76 First Division, 1976–77 First Division, 1981–82 First Division, 1982–83 Second Division, 1983–84 Second Division

FWA Footballer of the Year: 1975–76

PFA Players' Player of the Year: 1981–82

Football League 100 Legends

Manager

Newcastle United

Football League First Division: 1992–93

Fulham

Football League Second Division: 1998–99

Manchester City

Football League First Division: 2001–02

Individual

Premier League Manager of the Month: November 1993, August 1994, February 1995, August 1995, September 1995

Orders

Order of the British Empire