Kevin Keegan

[TRon]

No one will ever do for Newcastle what Keegan did in many ways, but I agree with Conjo that while Rafa's here there's no point in him having any connection with the club other than PR maybe. He's the opposite of Rafa, and right now I would love to see what Rafa could do given a free hand and a decent budget. Under a different owner obviously.

[Tubestationatmidnight]

Of course he could football is football they aren't playing with a different sized ball or goals than 96.

 

I just don't get all the Benitez love anymore. What will the reaction be when he stays and continues to put up with even more of this bollocks and oversees a few more early cup exits? If he is leaving just come out and say it.

 

Just a total dead season with everyone in limbo and no in ground protests and still near enough 52k crowds

 

 

[Fugazi]

Are you actually blaming Rafa for this being a dead season?

[Guest firetotheworks]

The majority prefer Benitez though

 

You're off your tits mate, sorry. And you were talking about love, not managerial preference.

[Guest firetotheworks]

I just don't get all the Benitez love anymore. What will the reaction be when he stays and continues to put up with even more of this bollocks and oversees a few more early cup exits? If he is leaving just come out and say it.

 

Yes, you've said. You've made your point, you don't need to keep making it, it's getting really fucking boring.

[Bimpy474]

After having a manager like Pardew who told Newcastle fans they weren't as intelligent as Southampton's, a owner who couldn't give two shits why the club means so much to the people who live in Newcastle.

 

You question why people still love Rafa, a man who gets the fans, the area, the fact the club is the heartbeat of the city. A manager being let down (ffs please don't yet again say he should walk, we fucking know) by an ignorant tosser owner. A manager we believe is staying hoping someone buys us out so he can give the city and it's fans the success they deserve.

 

You don't get the love for Rafa ?  You never will mate if you can't see what's right under your own fucking nose.

[wormy]

Tubestationatmidnight - dropping truth bombs since way too fucking long.

[TRon]

Of course he could football is football they aren't playing with a different sized ball or goals than 96.

 

I just don't get all the Benitez love anymore. What will the reaction be when he stays and continues to put up with even more of this bollocks and oversees a few more early cup exits? If he is leaving just come out and say it.

 

Just a total dead season with everyone in limbo and no in ground protests and still near enough 52k crowds

 

 

 

I reckon given a decent owner Keegan probably could get us going again, although to what extent is debatable considering the game has moved on, and even he admitted he didn't have much time for the tactical side of it. But the point is I don't want to be wondering 'what if...' when Benitez leaves. I really want to see what he could do with a supportive owner as I reckon he would win a trophy given three or four years with some decent funds.

[Tubestationatmidnight]

Of course he could football is football they aren't playing with a different sized ball or goals than 96.

 

I just don't get all the Benitez love anymore. What will the reaction be when he stays and continues to put up with even more of this bollocks and oversees a few more early cup exits? If he is leaving just come out and say it.

 

Just a total dead season with everyone in limbo and no in ground protests and still near enough 52k crowds

 

 

 

I reckon given a decent owner Keegan probably could get us going again, although to what extent is debatable considering the game has moved on, and even he admitted he didn't have much time for the tactical side of it. But the point is I don't want to be wondering 'what if...' when Benitez leaves. I really want to see what he could do with a supportive owner as I reckon he would win a trophy given three or four years with some decent funds.

 

I do too but getting a supportive owner isn't going to happen for him is it. I loved Benitez and chanted his name all around the country these last 2 years. I only ever said I want him to go for his own sake.

 

If he leaves and comes out swinging at Ashley in May then fair enough but I reckon he will sign on for some more shaftings.

 

If he truly did get us he wouldn't be throwing cup games like the rotten days

[Tubestationatmidnight]

To be fair if he is willing to sign on and suffer another x amount of years of this just in the hope that eventually Ashley sells then yeah he must really really want to be the one to win something here

[BlueStar]

Not two braincells between the pair of them.

 

[Fugazi]

sUpErTeRs

 

No wonder we get called thick.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

Tubestationatmidnight seems to expect Benitez to do a 'Thích Quảng Đức' style protest at how Mike Ashley runs NUFC.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c

[Tubestationatmidnight]

Tubestationatmidnight seems to expect Benitez to do a 'Thích Quảng Đức' style protest at how Mike Ashley runs NUFC.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c

 

 

I just wish he would do something. Instead we have a dead season aiming for 17th and have to wait until May at the earliest for anything to kick off

[Guest firetotheworks]

Not two braincells between the pair of them.

 

 

xplayers

 

Grammar, shit opinions, venn diagram, circle.

[Guest NobbyOhNobby]

Not two braincells between the pair of them.

 

 

xplayers

Jesus wept

[Geordie Ahmed]

Not two braincells between the pair of them.

 

That Jim doylem is always defending Ashley, he's an absolute weapon

[morla84]

Who is Superters Xplayers?

[Chris_R]

The majority prefer Benitez though

 

It's not that.

 

Shearer was a magnificent player for us and our all-time top scorer, but when I say I'd prefer to see Rondon out there next weekend it doesn't mean I think he's a better player than Big Al ever was.

 

Times move on.

[ianovthetoon]

Pragmatically even under new ownership Rafa is probably as good as we could hope for in our current guise  We're on our knees and need rebuilding from top to bottom. My best footballing memories are of The Entertainers in the nineties, and who knows how we could evolve in the future. But short to medium term there's no one I'd rather have in charge

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Rafa is the best most clubs could get TBH, their are only a handful of managers better than him.

[Altamullan]

Pragmatically even under new ownership Rafa is probably as good as we could hope for in our current guise  We're on our knees and need rebuilding from top to bottom. My best footballing memories are of The Entertainers in the nineties, and who knows how we could evolve in the future. But short to medium term there's no one I'd rather have in charge

[morla84]

His book is being serialized in the times from tomorrow. Champion!

[morla84]

Kevin Keegan book extracts: ‘I came up against a wall of incompetence, deceit and arrogance’

 

The manager recounts his second spell as the Newcastle manager and its bitter fallout

 

Nobody has ever officially told me I am banned from St James’ Park. Sometimes, though, you know when you are not welcome, and it is almost a decade now since it became apparent that, as far as the people at the top of Newcastle United are concerned, I will always be persona non grata as long as the Mike Ashley regime remains in place.

 

The saddest thing is that I would not want to go back anyway after everything that happened in my second spell as Newcastle manager and, though my feelings for the club won’t fade, that policy is set in stone until Mike Ashley has gone, and more than a hundred years of proud football history is removed from his business portfolio.

 

The only time I have made an exception came after an invitation to a private function at St James’ Park one night when there was no football on. It was a leaving do for a lifelong Newcastle fan. My first response was to send my apologies and explain it would be impossible for me to attend. Then I started feeling bad because the guy was leaving for a new life in America and I knew everyone wanted me to be there for his send-off. I didn’t want to let him down. And, besides, I have always loved a challenge.

 

I improvised. I put on a pair of glasses, I found a flat cap and I turned up the collar on my overcoat to complete the disguise. I found a quiet place to park my car, a safe distance from the ground, and then I walked in the back way, sticking to the shadows and avoiding eye contact with passers-by. It was dark and nobody had recognised me until I made it to the stadium entrance. Then one of the staff came over straight away. “Hello, Kevin,” she said, with one of those lovely Geordie welcomes. “What are you doing back here?”

 

My cover was blown but at least it was a friendly face rather than a hand being placed on my shoulder. The problem was I didn’t know if everybody in the building might be so hospitable and I didn’t want to take any chances. I asked if she would mind keeping it quiet and then I took the lift to the top floor. I had rung ahead to say I was on my way. Everyone had been briefed that the operation had to be conducted in complete secrecy and, when I hurried down a corridor, lined with photographs of my old teams, they were waiting for me inside one of the executive lounges. I was in and, apart from one minor scare, Operation KK had been a success. Mission accomplished.

 

I know how absurd it must sound and, when I think about it properly, what kind of craziness is it that someone with my long emotional history with Newcastle now has to smuggle himself into the ground where the owner used to call me “King Kev”? But this is an extraordinary club, run by unconventional people, and perhaps the most charitable way I can put it, as Jesus said on the cross, is to “forgive them for they know not what they do”.

 

These people don’t know what a precious club this is. They don’t comprehend that football in this big, vibrant city is about self-esteem. They have made a toy out of Newcastle United and, as much as it pains me to say it, I have no desire to be associated with the place for as long as that continues. I will gladly return when they have gone, and I am already looking forward to the day when Newcastle is free of the man who has lurched from one bad decision to another, run an empire of self-harm and handed money and power to people who deserved neither.

 

Until then, however, Ashley and his associates don’t need to worry about me making a habit of turning up incognito. I don’t want to share my oxygen with these people, trust me.

 

I have, after all, experienced the full force of the Ashley regime and, though I won my case against Newcastle for constructive dismissal, you can take my word that it wasn’t a pleasant experience being engaged in a legal battle against a man of such power and immense wealth. That it was Newcastle at the centre of this litigation made it an even more harrowing experience. Indeed, the whole thing was so hideous it convinced me I never wanted to work in football again.

 

----- ----- -----

 

I came up against a wall of incompetence, deceit and arrogance; you really couldn’t make up some of the things that happened at Newcastle under this regime. It was a tragicomedy.

 

I knew it was important to build a relationship with [Tony] Jimenez. I was intrigued by this guy and wanted to know how a property developer had found himself in such an influential role at one of England’s top football clubs. He certainly talked well, but was there any substance to it?

 

Jimenez had risen without trace. Yet I did find out he had a background, of sorts, in football. It turned out this Newcastle executive — a man given the title of “vice-president (player recruitment)” — had previously been a steward at Chelsea’s home games. That was where the link with Dennis Wise, formerly a Chelsea player, came about, and how he had befriended some of the players at Stamford Bridge. It wasn’t the most glittering CV I had ever seen.

 

That wouldn’t have mattered too much if Jimenez could walk the walk, as well as talking the talk, but it wasn’t long before I began to suspect there might not be a great deal of substance behind the big promises.

 

Jimenez had positioned himself as a football expert but it turned out this bewildering character — the man in charge of Newcastle’s recruitment, no less — admitted during discussions about potential transfer targets that he had never even heard of Per Mertesacker.

 

Can you believe that? Mertesacker had made his debut for Germany four years earlier. He was recognised as one of the outstanding players in the 2006 World Cup and had been an ever-present for his national team when they reached the final of Euro 2008. He was one of the best defenders in Europe and would go on to win over 100 caps for his country. Yet Jimenez didn’t have the foggiest who he was. I tried my hardest to retain a sense of humour and, somehow, I could laugh on occasion at the absurdity of it all. But there were other moments when it made my head ache to think what they were doing to a famous old sporting institution. It was an incredible story, but a sad one, mostly — and I had never known anything like it at any other football club.

 

----- ----- -----

 

Jimenez pulled the plug on a deal for Modric because he was “too small”MIKE HEWITT/GETTY IMAGES

 

Dennis Wise had been confirmed as the club’s director of football within a couple of weeks of my appointment. I had envisaged we would work together closely, but it wasn’t long before I realised that the likeable guy I used to pick for England — a chirpy little character who had never given me any problems — was going to stick very closely to Jimenez and, in turn, keep his distance from me.

 

At one point I took a call from Luka Modric’s agent to ask if I would be keen on signing the player from Dinamo Zagreb. Modric had already been speaking to Spurs and his agent was honest enough to explain the move to White Hart Lane was likely to happen. Yet it was clear there might still be a chance to gazump that deal, otherwise the agent would never have bothered getting in touch. “Mr Keegan, I’m a massive fan of yours and I’d very much like to discuss it with you,” he said. Dinamo Zagreb wanted £16 million and the wages were quite high, but it was still within our budget and, at 22, Modric had his best years ahead of him. He was exactly the kind of player I wanted to see in a black and white shirt.

 

His agent flew up from London and this time it was me inviting Jimenez to be part of it, rather than him cutting me out of the loop. It was an opportunity to sign one of the outstanding young footballers in Europe and, to begin with, I was making decent inroads. I explained what a great club Newcastle was, how the supporters would adore Modric and how we were looking for someone to spark us off.

 

Then Jimenez piped up. “Can I come in here?” he said. “I don’t think Luka is good enough for the Premier League. He’s too lightweight. He’s decent, but he’s not good enough.”

 

Terry [McDermott] was also in the meeting and we just stared at each other in disbelief. The agent looked shocked. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Are you saying my player is not strong enough? Luka’s a very strong boy, I can assure you.” “That’s exactly what I mean,” Jimenez continued. “My view is that he’s too lightweight for English football, he’s too small.”

 

It was an awful moment and, ten years on, it needs only a cursory glance at Modric’s achievements to realise what a nonsense it was. Even back then, however, it was laughable.

 

Monday: Part two - deals that ended it all at Newcastle

‘It was fundamentally wrong at every level and various people were getting rich off the back of it. It turned my blood cold.’

 

 

[LRD]

Didn't know those cunts banned KK from SJP. What a disgrace that is.