Rich

Not impressed with Baines. Regardless of that, we'll surely be interested in him because he's exactly the "type" of player we'll be looking to bring in. I certainly think he's a bit overrated as well from what I've seen of him and his size is something that would count against him in my book, as well. With a team likes ours which is already crying out for some more height and power in there somewhere, having a pair of fullbacks like Solano and Baines is going to do nothing but put more pressure on the goalkeeper and centre-halves from set-piece situations - especially when the rest of the team will also be under six-feet tall. I know there are some people who reckon stuff like this won't matter because we'll somehow be playing delightful passing football the rest of the time and scoring for fun, but in the Premiership if you cannot compete physically then you're going to struggle in certain aspects of the game.

This comment is wide of the mark. I'll cite Cristiano Ronaldo as an obvious example of what good coaching can do for somebody's "vision". Obviously the ability needs to be in there somewhere to begin with (like most footballing attributes), but it's certainly something that can be improved. As for coaching a first touch, it's an elementary part of technical coaching and I'm fairly certain it's another thing that can be greatly improved with the right methods and the right staff. It's quite possibly one of the most basic things to enhance, as well, because of the simple technical aspect of it.

Howay man, let's try and keep things even partially realistic if we're going to give our opinions on signings. I could quite happily say: "release Bramble, Moore and Onyewu and bring in Rio Ferdinand, Terry and Woodgate" but it's fairly pointless as it's extremely unlikely. As others have said, it makes sense that GVB would want to head home at this stage of his career and like others I'm not convinced he'd do well over here anyway - plus he doesn't exactly fit Roeder's "blueprint" of the type of player we should be bringing in (not that I'm expecting us to buy no players 25+). To me it seems like we'll be sniffing around Bale and Baines, along with bundles of other clubs, despite the fact the chances of getting the former can't be great. It will be interesting to see how much Wigan would ask for Baines, like. Although I can see us ending up with Bridge as a sort of "last on our list" sort of thing. He fits the mould of our recent policy perfectly: Chelsea castoff, injury prone, will only come here for his mates and the money, then Glenn can claim he has "everything to prove" after leaving Chelsea to come North. Just like Damien Duff has done. Once upon a time I was extremely enthusiastic about bringing Bridge in, but now I can't see it as being anything other than another dodgy signing. He's undoubtedly a better option than anything we have, but him staying fit, performing to our expectations and settling here is nowhere near nailed-on.

It's very likely, I suppose, as there don't seem to be any immediate challengers to his starting position for the national side at the moment. I can see Owen playing through another World Cup (if we qualify), as it's only just over 3 years away now and the bloke is only 27 (he'll be 30 during WC2010). Even after this injury I don't see the fundamental aspects of his game changing and I think he'll still be fully capable of scoring practically a goal every other game for the national side, especially considering some of the teams he'll come up against in friendlies and qualifiers between now and then. It comes down to his fitness again, more than anything. But 30 games between now and the end of his career for England isn't that outlandish a possibility.

He'll play Dyer right and Milner left, I reckon.

The bloke is a curse, seriously.

Won't happen unless we sell a striker.

Go Oliver!! That bit was by John Gibson, was it not? Not far on from that bit he mentions Keegan doing an interview for him... which would make it Gibson, not Oliver. Obviously been put together in the wake of the message board malarky and the Chronicle realising people are fed-up with them and it is a hasty write-up. Some of it is a decent read, but the absurd piece of saying we should be "happy" with top-six expectations (I would fucking be delighted with that!) made me scowl a bit. Does the writer really think we expect anything more?

These days I wish we had a "touch and go" left-winger who scores practically a goal every 4 games and gets an assist almost every 6! This season he's got 8 goals in 42 games, with 7 assists. It's not just that with MGP, though, he's outstanding in almost every other area as well, not just in the traditional mould of a winger. I posted this in February: I'd love to see how the lad fares at a bigger club than Blackburn and I wish we got him when Bobby was after him, but it wasn't to be. He's definitely their outstanding/most valuable player, despite tougher competition than ever this season from the likes of McCarthy and Bentley - who just keeps getting better. Blackburn have a fairly solid team on paper when you look at it, along with a decent manager, it's amazing that they're so low down the league (2 games in hand on most around them, though.)

I'll take that as another win for the middle ground, then. Hooray!

I never said he shouldn't praise people, did I? I said I found it funny how he was praising N'Zogbia to the hilt very recently, saying he would never sell him because he's the "future of the club" and now he's hauling him off at half-time and roasting him in the dressing room. It makes him look very, very silly if a lad who he's worked with for almost a year has suddenly turned into someone who he can't wait to see the back of after just. I know things can change, but surely you can't dispute that it's a fairly drastic turnaround in a short space of time and that Roeder has most definitely put his foot in it yet again in the eyes of a lot of supporters. The N'Zogbia issue could be a very bad one for Glenn if it keeps snowballing. As for Bramble and Moore, it's dodgy because he was quite happy to persevere with Titus until a mistake of his put Glenn himself in the firing line (he obviously knew he had an explicit history of making expensive ricks) after saying for months on end that he thought he could get him to put his error-proneness behind him and rightfully praising him when he played. That was undoubtedly bad form and that was undoubtedly making Bramble a scapegoat on a night when there was far more wrong with the gameplan and the team selection. It's another massive one-eighty to suddenly drop a player because of a bad night after you've picked him whenever he's been fit prior to that and shown full faith in him. I understand how Roeder could have "snapped", but the timing was convenient. Craig Moore has done excellently for us when he's actually played and he was a massive part in helping Glenn and the club get to 7th at the back-end of last season and while he probably isn't good enough for us and he is undoubtedly injury prone he was another that Roeder blew his top with at Portsmouth on Saturday, possibly because he knows he's leaving regardless in the summer. But nevertheless, the timing again isn't great when our only replacements are Ramage and Onyewu. Moore was probably a dodgy inclusion in my initial post, I admit that, and I understand what you're getting at when you say Glenn has been praising people to get them to play "above" themselves, if possible and I think you're entirely right about this. I don't believe he knew Titus was "shite", though, same with N'Zogbia. Moore, I can concede. As usual Vic I don't have an issue with your standpoint on things as much as I have an issue with the way you go about things, especially when it concerns people who you've had a laugh with in the past. You do exactly the same as the so-called "loonies" do by going off the deep-end, although in the entirely opposite direction, and it damages your credibility because of it. You're as guilty as being as hysterical about things as much as the usual suspects on here, yet in your own mind you're the only sane one out of the lot of us. You baffle me.

As much as certian people will deny it, this cannot be disputed. The bloke seems to have lost his head/bottle and is blaming everything and everyone around him instead of shouldering the majority of the blame in order to get the best out of what he has until the end of the season. While the players aren't innocent at all, there are more negatives to positives in telling all and sundry that they're letting the club down/blaming them for defeats. How hard would it have been to bottle in the frustration a bit, stay positive and to keep the players motivated before getting shot of the cunts in the summer for more money than we'll undoubtedly get now? By making scapegoats and pointing the finger he'll be massively reducing the potential income we could garner from player sales as people like N'Zogbia are now publicly known as being "on the brink" and perhaps out of his plans, instead of being a "hot prospect" who we will will "not sell" because he's the "future of this club". While it could save Roeder a little in the eyes of the ignorant who will probably be glad to see people "like" Charlie sold, it's going to have nothing but a detrimental effect on morale, performances and potential fundraising in the summer. Also doesn't change the fact that Glenn continues to contradict himself in the local media... it can't have been that long ago that people like Bramble, Moore and N'Zogbia were getting praised by the Gaffer (Zog especially) - and now he's suddenly "realised" that two of them aren't good enough and one is no longer the "future of this club"? Did he not know Charlie was a "moody cunt" (apparently) a few months ago? It's self-preservation at this stage, from what I can see. Can't exactly blame him for it, but he's doing more harm than good unfortunately. I don't think you know what the fuck you want Roeder to do he's damned whatever he tries, honesty, realism, motivation, press management whatever, so he's basically decided to fuck everyone, and quite right too. It's none of your cunt's jobs on the line if what you claim should be happening doen't come off He's the only NUFC manager to tell it how it is for for once. I for one was fed up of Souness's continual defences of plain shite, and now the cunt is being held up as the model fucking manager. How fucking ludicrous can you get? I'm sure I've said in the past that he shouldn't have criticised the players/made scapegoats in public and that he should have shouldered the blame (and attempted to keep morale high) when there was still a lot to play for and in this latest post here I've said exactly the same thing - so how is that not knowing what I, personally, want to hear from Roeder? It's exactly the same opinion as you pulled me up on after the AZ game about. Do you even read the posts on here, Vic? All I've added there is that I fully understand that from Glenn's side of things it's nothing more than self-preservation in order to keep his job, which you've practically repeated for me in your reply. Probably missed that bit of my post though as you frantically clicked at the "reply" button in order to do your usual rant. Personally, I'm not one of the people who have slagged him off at every turn as I tend to try and see both sides of an argument, rather than hopelessly hoying myself in at either the deep or the shallow end. If you read posts on here, you'd have realised that. I will criticise Roeder when I think it's warranted and I'll praise him when he gets things right, as I have done recently when a team selection I thought was dodgy got us 3 points. Nothing is ever different than that and I've certainly never held Souness up as a "model manager". Have you quoted the wrong post here, or what?

Terry Mac is a winner Doubt he was referring to himself tbh. We'll simply never know, will we?

Without wanting to come across all NE5, but open a fucking history book will you! Worst ever in the EPL maybe, but... Well, see my sig... EDIT: I want Roeder out too, but that's just ridiculous I'm with this bloke. While I understand people's frustrations, the hysteria is getting right on my tits now. Why can't people some people at least attempt keep balanced opinions, eh? It's always either "OMFG he's class!!!!" or "he's the worst player at Newcastle, ever" - middle ground appears to be absolutely non-existant in some people's lives. Say what you want about Roeder, and I'm fully aware people have buckets of justifiably negative comments on him, but if we somehow avoid another injury "crisis" I can't see us being much worse than we have been at times this term in the league. Especially if we don't have Europe to contend with, as well.

Babayaro's absences haven't helped much, either. I'd be interested to see how much those pairs have played together, actually, crocks from Chelsea eh? It's becoming a recurring theme these days. There is no doubt that Duff has been as bad as N'Zogbia has been this season, yet a worrying number of people tend to accept that Charlie being poor is sufficient reason for him to be sold for a reduced fee this summer, while we'll be left with the older, slower, higher-paid and arguably more injury-prone left-winger out of the pair of them. Smashing. It's not exactly hard to understand why people are getting upset about this. I'm not sure what else I can say on the matter other than it will be a shame to see our brightest prospect for a while leave this summer, whatever the reasons for him going might be. Also, I would also say that while Roeder hasn't covered himself in glory with the situation none of us know the true extent of his ineptitude on this matter. If he's as bad as we all think/say, he'll be gone soon enough regardless of what happens with CNZ. Just a shame that before he does we'll have to lose another fan-favourite in the process. Do the ends justify the means on this one?

Why am I not surprised to see, within the first two replies, that the board have been instantly dragged to the fore? Amongst absolutely mountains of material, as well. EDIT: Could he not simply be referring to the coaching staff? Himself included?

N'Zogbia tended to make a lot happen on his own as well, from what I recall. He was the only player in the entire squad who could receive the ball to a roar of "go on" from the crowd, as people tended to expect something to happen when he was in posession. He certainly wasn't world-class, but he stood out amongst some fairly average team-mates.

As much as certian people will deny it, this cannot be disputed. The bloke seems to have lost his head/bottle and is blaming everything and everyone around him instead of shouldering the majority of the blame in order to get the best out of what he has until the end of the season. While the players aren't innocent at all, there are more negatives to positives in telling all and sundry that they're letting the club down/blaming them for defeats. How hard would it have been to bottle in the frustration a bit, stay positive and to keep the players motivated before getting shot of the cunts in the summer for more money than we'll undoubtedly get now? By making scapegoats and pointing the finger he'll be massively reducing the potential income we could garner from player sales as people like N'Zogbia are now publicly known as being "on the brink" and perhaps out of his plans, instead of being a "hot prospect" who we will will "not sell" because he's the "future of this club". While it could save Roeder a little in the eyes of the ignorant who will probably be glad to see people "like" Charlie sold, it's going to have nothing but a detrimental effect on morale, performances and potential fundraising in the summer. Also doesn't change the fact that Glenn continues to contradict himself in the local media... it can't have been that long ago that people like Bramble, Moore and N'Zogbia were getting praised by the Gaffer (Zog especially) - and now he's suddenly "realised" that two of them aren't good enough and one is no longer the "future of this club"? Did he not know Charlie was a "moody cunt" (apparently) a few months ago? It's self-preservation at this stage, from what I can see. Can't exactly blame him for it, but he's doing more harm than good unfortunately.

Unlike N'Zogbia, Robert was still doing the business for us when called upon when we flogged him and was still an essential element of a team that had Shearer up front. It is worse in the sense that Charlie has far more potential than him and a lot of years left, but it's not quite as important first-team wise as it was with our other French left-winger, who was our only left-footed wideman at the time if I'm right. Roeder's main strength is supposed to be his ability to harness and help young talent, is it not? Which makes this whole episode all the more baffling in how it has turned out to this point. We still don't know how things will end up, mind, but it's going to be interesting to see and it could play a massive role in whether Roeder stays or goes.

Don't see how anyone could argue with this, myself, despite the fact it's based on hypotheticals. We should remember that Milner wouldn't have even been here this season if the Viduka farce had come off. Milner has been shat-on far more than N'Zogbia but has set a high benchmark for how to react by being treat in such a manner, which funnily enough probably hasn't helped the Little Frenchman one bit. Still daft to expect players to react in the same manner to what they consider injustices, though, especially these days. I don't think anyone can fully absolve Charlie from blame, as Jon has said previously. Roeder's list of failures in all aspects of his job is growing by the day, though, which is a great shame for someone who probably has nothing but the best intentions. If we get less than £5m for N'Zogbia this summer and Roeder sanctions the move, then for me it would be right up there with Souness' flogging of Laurent Robert.

If 'Boro lose Woody and Viduka next season for nothing, they could be facing a struggle. They're bad enough now with the pair of them.

It's a hell of a read, but a worthwhile one - so for those who don't have the time I'll try and summarise the key points: • People still come up to him now, in Glasgow, and heap praise on him for the way Newcastle played while he was there - most saying they used to love watching them and some even travelled down especially to watch us. • He wanted to play football the "right way" and "his way", not by what a coaching manual told him. His whole philosophy was on building a team to entertain people in a sport that is all about entertainment. He feels the team of his era and the Geordie fans were a "match made in heaven". • Doesn't have a bad word to say about any of his "flair" players and calls them all "wonderful assets", strongly denying the "myth" that Asprilla cost us the title by calling him "world class" and saying his work-rate was top-notch, despite his craziness. Says we didn't win the title because the squad/staff/board didn't know how to win the big prize, not because of an individual. • Keegan says that if we had have "achieved the impossible" then he feels it would have changed the face of Premiership football and maybe football altogether on the whole and that we would not be witnessing a lot of the turgid defensive football of today had they done it. Says only Manchester United today could be considered as "Entertainers". • He does not have any coaching badges and had done nothing but "play golf in Spain" before being given the job at SJP, when Sir John had phoned him and said "there are only two people who can save Newcastle United and they are talking to each other right now". He does not believe in coaching badges and says that "imagination is your limitation". Feels that today's game is inhabited by "clones" of current coaching methods, with negative attitudes. • KK doesn't believe we'll ever see the like of the "Entertainers" again in being a team who finish 3rd in their first PL season and go on to challenge within two full years of top-flight football. Thinks despite the lack of success, it served as a period where people stopped harking back to '69 and the fifties because he was reinventing the wheel, so to speak. • Says Shepherd, the Halls and Fletcher were "great" during his time there and that the latter - dubbed the "Jockweiler" - was especially essential to Newcastle at the time. • He left Newcastle because of the PLC business and the fact that he thought the club wasn't "what it was supposed to become", after Hall's promises of the Toon being the new Barcelona and buying into a multitude of sports (which Kev fully supported). He basically says NUFC "sold out" the fans after selling them the dream of the Geordie sporting empire because it would not "look good on a balance" sheet. His decision to leave was a matter of principle. Felt like NUFC had let people down by floating, when everything seemed to be coming together off the park. • After the 5-0 drubbing of Man Utd (no surprise that it's his favourite game) he recalls how Eric Cantona said to him in the tunnel "you've got a fucking good team" and also says that while the 4-3 at Anfield "killed us", it wasn't his lowest moment because of the way we played on that night - we weren't outclassed and KK says we were probably the better side. He seems proud that the game was voted the best of the PL decade recently. • Beardsley was his favourite out of everyone he had at NUFC because he was a "creator and a goalscorer" and he would often "rollick" him for being so unselfish and giving the ball to Cole, who missed, when he could score himself. Aside from Pedro he still has massive praise for absolutely everyone - even Darren Peacock who he describes as being "alone on the bridge" because Albert, Beresford and Watson/Barton "loved to get forward". He calls Rob Lee the "glue" of the side, Albert the "finesse", Ginola the "flair" and Ferdinand the "goals". Also interesting to note that "Killer" Kilcline was an "essential" signing at the time because he helped "steady" the club and "got us going". • Now he's all about his "Soccer Circus", which he claims will be "bigger than Manchester United" as he hopes to set them up all around the world. It's an interactive coaching set-up that invites anyone to play, not just the "best" and rewards them for "mastering skills". He says he doesn't watch football on TV anymore because he doesn't enjoy it, but he keeps up-to-date with the results and happening around his old clubs. Perhaps nothing new in there for the people who know their stuff, but it's interesting to hear it all at once from the horse's mouth.

Original Source Exclusive: Full Kevin Keegan interview Apr 18 2007 By John Gibson, The Evening Chronicle Part one : My Entertainers and the Geordie fans Kevin Keegan Kevin Keegan may have ran away to join the circus, but he can't escape the legacy he left behind at Newcastle United. Keegan, always an enthusiastic, all-or-nothing participant in life, has moved his family up to Glasgow to meet his next challenge head on. The building of a new empire, Soccer Circus, an interactive challenge in which the paying public are rewarded for the completion of different skills. Aged 56, it no doubt appeals to the child in him. However, when Keegan broke off from showing the Scots how to play soccer, having agreed to a rare interview about a world he no longer wishes to inhabit, he was full of warm nostalgia for The Entertainers, his own collection of ball jugglers and acrobats who stormed the Premier League and captured millions of hearts in the early 90s. Indeed, Keegan believes that had his United won the Premiership, as they oh so nearly did, it would have changed the face of football forever and banished the clawing fear that is now stifling our cash-obsessed national game. The shackles, he maintains, would have been thrown off to the benefit of all who care. A decade has passed since Keegan sensationally walked out on his greatest managerial achievement in January of 1997, but the public wide and far have not forgotten his Newcastle. "Even now, up here in Glasgow, people approach me to say they loved that Newcastle team," he told me. "They became besotted with the way we played. So many folk from all over the place tell me they used to travel to St James' Park to watch us or sat glued in front of the box. "You never see that sort of football now, with the possible exception of Manchester United. Football today is not my type of football. "I was new to management at the beginning of the 90s and I thought all football should be played our way. I built a side to play the way I liked the game to be played. "We didn't go for a team of defenders. We went out to entertain a Geordie public who crave entertainment, and that required players of flair and imagination who dared to perform in a certain way. My side and the Geordie fans were a marriage made in heaven. "Teams are usually all about defence. All the coaching manuals tell you to build from the back, that if you don't concede a goal you can't lose. I preferred to believe that if you didn't score you couldn't win. "We were in the entertainment business and I had a simple philosophy. I had no preconceived ideas, no fear of failure. I bought some wonderful players who were adored by the Geordies – Philippe Albert, David Ginola, Peter Beardsley, Rob Lee, Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand, Alan Shearer and, yes, Tino Asprilla. They were priceless, every one of them a wonderful asset. "We almost achieved the impossible, winning the championship with a squad built on pure football. We should have won it and if we had it would not only have changed Newcastle United for good but all of football. Coaches would have been encouraged to go down our path, to rid us of a negativity that is stifling our game. "Instead coaches nowadays produce clones of themselves. Cautious players with a negative attitude. "It's like when you were at school. If the professor said something you accepted it at face value because he was a professor. You didn't query it. But that doesn't mean he was right every time. "Imagination is your limitation. If someone tells you you can't do that you should ask `why?' "I had no coaching badges. All I had done since I had finished kicking a football was play golf in Spain, but when Newcastle came for me in 1992 we sparked something special that will never be repeated. "That team we put together is one of the major success stories of the last 20 years. Nothing like it will ever happen again – a newly promoted team like Sunderland this season will not threaten to win the championship because the gulf is too big now. It's all about money. "I don't believe coaching badges are necessary. They stereotype people. All I ever did was go into things with great enthusiasm and belief and allow it to rub off on others." Keegan, born on St Valentine's Day in 1951, has always been a romantic. The Premier League he left in March 2005 when quitting Manchester City is now too mechanical, too predictable for him, which is why he's turned his back on it and headed over the border, just as he walked away from so many things in the past if reality no longer matched the promises of the brochure. He was the ringmaster long before the circus came to his town and he revelled in his Geordie adventure. "When Newcastle came calling for me it was very exciting," recalled Kevin. "John Hall phoned and said `Only two people can save Newcastle United and they are talking to each other right now.' That was a powerful message. "We went on a rollercoaster ride, all of us together. Douglas Hall and Freddy Shepherd were great when I was there. John was the figurehead but they drove the club forward. And chief executive Freddie Fletcher – we called him the Jockweiler – was also vital in our era. "We might not have won the ultimate prize, though we should have done, but perhaps you Geordies haven't to look so far back in history because of us. When I arrived everyone talked about Jackie Milburn and the 50s. Perhaps now it's The Entertainers." When the time eventually comes to say goodbye, to store away the most pleasant of memories for yet another day when the soul needs lifting, the saviour of Newcastle United both as a player and manager smiles that infectious smile of old. "Howay the lads," he shouts and waves. It's time to head back to the circus! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I left Toon as it wasn't the same club any more Kevin Keegan's departure mid-season from Newcastle caused a sensation on Tyneside, which was baffled and plunged into deep mourning. Never has an opportunity for lasting greatness been so spurned by a football club and never has the opportunity to touch the stars arisen again. KK left so abruptly and with so little in the way of public explanation that speculation as to why so much was thrown away has abounded since. Was it because he didn't like United going from private ownership to a public company where short-cuts on decisions couldn't be taken on a whim? Or had he never recovered from the deep-rooted emotional scars of losing the championship to Manchester United? On the face of it, Keegan had appeared to recover, having spent £15m on yet another attacker, Alan Shearer, and in the months before his abdication in January of 1997 watched as his side demolished Man U 5-0 and then slaughtered Spurs 7-1. "I left as a matter of principle," insisted KK. "The club I had been put in charge of was changing direction and I didn't like that. "If you remember we were going to become the new Barcelona. We bought into ice hockey, rugby, basketball, the lot. We were to become a huge sporting club. We sold them a dream and then dashed it because it didn't look good on a balance sheet with the club becoming a plc. "I was part of that trust when these other sports came aboard and then they were suddenly jettisoned. It was morally wrong. "What else was going to happen on the football side? This wasn't the club I had been managing." United still finished that season as runners-up in the Premiership once again with Kenny Dalglish taking over, just as he had in playing terms at Liverpool when Keegan went to Germany. However, Newcastle never challenged for the title and Dalglish was to dismantle Keegan's squad very quickly, starting with the sales of Les Ferdinand and David Ginola to Spurs. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cantona swore I had top team Had Kevin Keegan beaten Alex Ferguson to the Premier League championship he would have loved it, loved it. It was not to be, a 12-point lead miraculously achieved but not retained that pulsating season of 1995-96. However, if Sir smirked then at his victorious gallop up the rails, his favourite son Eric Cantona admitted the following season upon visiting St James' Park that Keegan had, indeed, a wondrous side. In March 1996, Cantona had scored the lone goal that, together with Peter Schmeichel's awesome saves, won the match 1-0 and led to Man U overhauling Newcastle for the title. Seven months on and Keegan's troops took savage revenge, destroying the Old Trafford aristocrats 5-0 in a match still cherished by the Toon Army. "Oh, it was my favourite game of the lot," smiled KK. "We absolutely slaughtered them – and remember Man U were the current champions. We played them off the park. "I always remember on the final whistle I went down the tunnel and was standing at the top of the stairs when the players trooped in. "As he passed, Cantona growled `You've got an effing good side' and walked on. "His English was supposed to be not so good but he knew what we were about." If the slaughter of his old tormentor Fergie was the high point for Keegan, I asked him if the 4-3 defeat at Liverpool during the run-in to 1995-96, when every point was a gold nugget and United had led in typical swashbuckling style, was his worst moment. "Not really," he replied quick as a flash. "Because for all but the last few minutes we had played so well. We weren't outclassed, as Man U were on the day against us. We were the better team right until near the end. "Of course it killed us, but for the neutral it was a pulsating spectacle. "It was voted the Game of the Decade in the Premiership, wasn't it?" Part two: Talent galore - but Beardo was simply the best Kevin Keegan made so many lavish signings for Newcastle, in an era when the bank was broken almost monthly in his craving for perfection, that to select the greatest of the great is a monumental task capable of concentrating biased minds for ever. As we talked Keegan, not unnaturally, waxed lyrical over each and every one of them like a father fussing over his large brood. The club record was smashed through a succession of eye-popping deals culminating in the emotional return home for Geordie Alan Shearer at a world record £15m. However, when I pressed him for his best signing of the lot KK finally succumbed. The chosen one, Peter Beardsley, so good Newcastle bought him twice. Beardsley had partnered Keegan in black-and-white stripes as promotion was won in the 80s and had made such an impression he was brought back by his old team-mate to help spark a new revolution. "When you have a goalscorer in the team you're blessed - and you're equally blessed by the presence of a creator," Keegan told me. "So when you have both in one player then you have the complete deal. "Peter could do both equally well. He was a giver not a taker by nature. He enjoyed making a goal for Andy Cole as much as scoring one himself. Indeed, I had to rollick him a couple of times for passing to Andy who missed when Pedro could have scored himself. "He was very special to the club, a Geordie who understood his own folk and was on the same wavelength as myself. "But I was lucky I had so many truly wonderful players at Newcastle and I appreciate every one of them to this day. Not just the ones I bought but the home grown lads who responded to those I put around them. Players who perhaps didn't realise the standard they could attain. "Not many people might expect me to talk about Brian Kilcline, for example, considering the big-name players who followed him, but he was absolutely crucial to me at the time. He settled us down and got us going. "Philippe Albert was immense for his finesse while Rob Lee, at £700,000, was superb value for money, the signing who glued the jigsaw together. "Then there was Andy Cole for his goals alongside Peter, Sir Les who followed him, David Ginola with all his Gallic flair, and of course, Alan Shearer, at the end of it all. "Having said all that let's not forget the likes of Darren Peacock, who often stood on the bridge by himself because Bez and Albert loved to get forward." Many of Kevin's deals had a touch of the offbeat, that flamboyant wackiness that was synonymous with the Keegan years. Like the time KK sat in the car park outside of a hotel in Wetherby arguing on the phone with his directors over whether or not Beardsley was too old (32 incidentally) before strolling inside to sign a genius. Or the occasion when a message was left on the windscreen of a missing Andy Cole's car, spotted in Bristol's town centre, telling him to get in touch with City urgently because Keegan was in for him. Andy, a bachelor, was actually in a nearby laundry doing his washing! And what about the hilarious exchange after a deal for Tino Asprilla was completed in Italy. Freddie Fletcher enthusiastically shook the hand of the Parma president saying thank you very much to which a bemused interpreter asked: "Why did you shake hands? He's just called you a little s**t." A reference to some heavy bargaining by United. In those merriest of days fun ran through United like words through a stick of seaside rock. Both on and off the field of battle. Perhaps Kevin's most controversial signing, however, was the £7.5m import of Asprilla, a colourful if outrageously wild superstar from Colombia who was playing in Italy's Serie A League. "A lot of Press from outside the North East needed a scapegoat when we failed to win the Premier League title and they settled on Tino," Keegan told me. "That was totally wrong, totally unfair. I honestly think that Asprilla only had two poor games for us all the time he was there. "I wanted him because he was world class and all the rubbish about his wild ways never bothered me a bit. Some of it was scandalous, but I never wavered and I got top-class backing from the board. "I had seen Tino play for Colombia against England at Wembley and was struck by his enthusiasm and workrate as well as his obvious ability. "No, we didn't lose the championship because of Asprilla but because too many people around the club, off and on the field, didn't know how to win something. "Beardsley apart, I don't think there was anyone else who had achieved the ultimate prize." Apart from the Geordie Messiah himself, of course, twice European Footballer of the Year, a champion with Liverpool and Hamburg, England skipper and their future manager. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- KK now soccer circus master He's never lured by a live match on TV and knows not a thing of Scottish football, despite his new power base in Glasgow. Sure, Keegan talks regularly on the phone to cherished old players like Peter Beardsley but that is the limit of his involvement in today's regimented game. His new life and new challenge, he tells me, is with Soccer Circus - the world's first fully interactive football facility - and he would love to bring it to Newcastle. The plan is that the Glasgow venture will be the first of many branches worldwide and he told me: "The Geordies would love it and I would love to take Soccer Circus to Newcastle. I'm not saying it'll be the next place we go but it would be great to eventually make it to Tyneside." KK calls it his future adding: "This will be bigger than Manchester United. I've always been about a challenge and this is it. Football is no longer about romance but finances. The fun has gone. "I never watch a game now and I don't miss it. I follow the news about my old clubs but that's all. I knew about Newcastle v Man City and Chris Coleman getting the sack at Fulham, but if I was questioned in depth over what was happening generally I would no doubt fail." Kevin left his last job at Manchester City by mutual consent in March of 2005. After four years in the job and the challenge of waking another sleeping giant like Newcastle completed he walked away calling time on his fourth and he insists last managerial commitment. "I just got stale," he explained. "If you don't enjoy it, don't look forward to working with your players, then you have to get out. It got to the stage where I thought: `Hold on, is this what I want to do with the rest of my life?' Some people are happy to stay where they are for ever but if I'm not enjoying something I move on." Keegan is working every night until 9pm having thrown himself enthusiastically into Soccer Circus as he's done with whatever has currently taken his mind. He's hands on - the painter of the cafe, the guy who bought the old turnstiles from Middlesbrough's Ayresome Park at an antique shop near Leeds and a row of wooden seats from Stoke's abandoned Victoria Ground and transported them up to Glasgow. "Here football is still fun and anyone can play it," he explained. "The coaches only want the cream but ordinary guys love soccer and they should be able to take part. We give them that opportunity to indulge themselves."

Don't rate him. Good news for us. blueyes.gif

So are you saying we will probably not spend "net" anything this summer? I'll tuck into the old hat with a knife and fork if that happens, whether the cash is there or not.