Kevin Keegan

[HaydnNUFC]

Some bloke uploaded to YouTube all NUFC season reviews from 1989-90 up to, I believe, 05-06. The contrast in the early to mid 90s to now is astonishing. As someone who wasn't born when Keegan was here as manager and someone who was far too young to remember Robson, its a completely different club. The season I wish I could live through from what I've watched and learned about it is 1993-94. Having watched the review of it like 3 times now () the stuff is pretty much inspiring; Keegan banning the use of the word 'consolidation' around the club, the strives made off the pitch, the players we had, the football we played and the goals we scored. Ah man.

 

If anything comes from this arbitration shite and we have new owners soon, we don't even have to win owt: if anything remotely like the 93-94 season is round the corner for me to experience I'll die a happy Newcastle fan.

[Guest reefatoon]

You would just never get that joy and excitement about going to a match now as you did then. You just can’t describe how amazing it all was. The excitement building up through the week, the whole day prior to the match and after it. The feeling of supreme confidence that no matter which team was coming to play, you knew you were going to thrash them. Never felt or will feel that kind of thing again. It was unique and an utter joy and privilege to have been a part of. The place was jumping man.

[BlueStar]

Happy birthday 

[sempuki]

You would just never get that joy and excitement about going to a match now as you did then. You just can’t describe how amazing it all was. The excitement building up through the week, the whole day prior to the match and after it. The feeling of supreme confidence that no matter which team was coming to play, you knew you were going to thrash them. Never felt or will feel that kind of thing again. It was unique and an utter joy and privilege to have been a part of. The place was jumping man.

Well said. Such an amazing time to be a supporter.

[Guest neesy111]

I know Freddie Fletcher was decisive with some fans, but he made this club into having the 2nd best commercial operation after man utd within 2 years.

[gdm]

Happy birthday legend

[joeyt]

Happy 70th KK

[RS]

Heartbreaking trying to think about the then and now.  Watching as a kid in his playing days was exciting but the buzz around the place when he first managed. The feeling of anticipation before a game. Even the experience of watching in an absolutely packed boozer when you couldn’t make an away game.

 

Hard to believe we’ve became such a nonentity. A nothing club in the premiership standing. Heartbreaking.

[Wallsendmag]

Just watched the Ten Out Of Ten video on YouTube again. Not only is the football great but the interviews with KK and Freddie Fletcher are so far away from what we hear now.

 

My favourite ever season following NUFC. We'd bought our season tickets at the start of the previous season (91/92) as my dad was certain we were going places with Ossie Ardiles as manager! Obviously Keegan arrived in the February, we stayed up so it was a no brainer to renew. Back then we would park up at the dental hospital about 2pm and as soon as you opened the car doors you could instantly hear the singing coming from the ground as all the terraced areas were already full, I'll never forget that, how the noise carried all that way, how loud it was, and as we were walking to the ground you'd see loads of panicked people sprinting past us desperately hoping they'd still be able to get in! The buzz once inside was something I've never experienced before or since, and sadly even if the takeover goes ahead, it'll never match that. Football, and football fans have changed so much since then sadly. I think it was the Tranmere game when 7,000 were literally locked outside the ground, the Gallowgate was the first to lock the turnstiles and I still remember 1000s of desperate people sprinting past us as we were queuing to get into the East Stand as word had gone round that there was a little bit of space in the Leazes End, so after that every game was made all ticket which diluted the pre match atmosphere a bit as people started to arrive later.

 

The following few seasons were amazing, and yes we had a better team but that 92/93 season, winning our first 11 games, for what it meant to every single NUFC fan and just for the atmosphere inside the ground can't be beaten.

 

Happy 70th King Kev, my all time favourite person ever to be associated with Newcastle United.

[UncleBingo]

You would just never get that joy and excitement about going to a match now as you did then. You just can’t describe how amazing it all was. The excitement building up through the week, the whole day prior to the match and after it. The feeling of supreme confidence that no matter which team was coming to play, you knew you were going to thrash them. Never felt or will feel that kind of thing again. It was unique and an utter joy and privilege to have been a part of. The place was jumping man.

 

100% this. Incredible times....we may not have won anything but by god we had some fun.

 

I remember when we first signed him as a player, I was on holiday in Wales and me and my brother were playing in a park in Porthmadog when we got talking to this kid who was a Liverpool fan. He asked who we supported and when I said Newcastle, he said something like 'you must be happy you've signed Keegan'......we just assumed he was winding us up, as this was just too seismic a thing to believe, so we ran back to the boat we were staying on, and asked my Grandad to put the radio on. Sure enough, the news was confirmed, and as 12 and 9 year olds, we were absolutely delirious, I mean this was just huge news for a club in decline like ours that was dying on it's arse in the 2nd division. I had to wait until 6pm (cheaper calls) and rang my Dad from the phone box and pleaded with him to get us tickets for his debut, something that we never had to do before now. We came home a few days later and the players were doing a signing session at the old club shop in the West Stand car park, so I went across to town with my mate Ian. It was mobbed and Keegan was there with Imre Varadi, John Trewick and Kenny Wharton.....I was wearing my yellow Bukta away top and I was standing next to KK's big Mercedes when he got out 'Is that the away top, horrible that, we'll have to get it changed' he said to me and winked......I nearly passed out, the great man had spoken to me! I ended up getting it signed by all the players, Keegan's autograph beautifully executed on the back. I still have the shirt now 40 years later, and have passed it on to my son to look after

The next couple of weeks were just a blur of excitement leading up to the QPR game and the big day finally came. I went across on the bus with my Dad and brother and there were black and white tops everywhere in town, this was nothing like a normal match day. Fittingly, it was a glorious day and we and we went up to the Hodgson Arms and we sat outside while my Dad had a few pints with his mates, the singing inside and outside the pub was deafening and it was a party atmosphere. When we went to the ground, there were huge queues to the Gallowgate, but we had tickets for the East Stand benches, the first time I had sat at a game. The colour and the noise, everything felt like it had been turned up about 200% from the previous season, there was even a streaker in luminous green socks. Can't really remember much of the game, but had a great view as Keegan ran in and slid the ball under Hucker for the winner.....absolute carnage for the next 5 mins. I managed to watch all of KK's home games as an NUFC player, and even in the twilight of his career, he was light years ahead of anyone else on the pitch. Watching him Waddle & Beardsley for that one season together was incredible.

 

I hope if we do get taken over the first thing anyone does is recognise Keegan's huge contribution to NUFC; nobody has done more for the club in modern times.

 

Happy birthday KK, you absolute legend.

 

[RS]

Loved the Bukta away strip. Incredibly itchy though

[Paully]

[Tsunami]

Aye, Peter Withe top. Great story Bingo. I was on holiday in Italy, my mates dad told me and I didn’t believe him (both Sunderland supporters) until he showed me the back page of the paper.

 

We queued from around 11am with some cans outside the west stand to get into the Gallowgate Paddock. An amazing day with an amazing goal, when KK got that ball everyone was just waiting for him to score; you just knew this was it. The only other goal I’ve experienced at SJP like that was Ned Kelly but that was sheer relief.

[Strawberry]

You would just never get that joy and excitement about going to a match now as you did then. You just can’t describe how amazing it all was. The excitement building up through the week, the whole day prior to the match and after it. The feeling of supreme confidence that no matter which team was coming to play, you knew you were going to thrash them. Never felt or will feel that kind of thing again. It was unique and an utter joy and privilege to have been a part of. The place was jumping man.

 

100% this. Incredible times....we may not have won anything but by god we had some fun.

 

I remember when we first signed him as a player, I was on holiday in Wales and me and my brother were playing in a park in Porthmadog when we got talking to this kid who was a Liverpool fan. He asked who we supported and when I said Newcastle, he said something like 'you must be happy you've signed Keegan'......we just assumed he was winding us up, as this was just too seismic a thing to believe, so we ran back to the boat we were staying on, and asked my Grandad to put the radio on. Sure enough, the news was confirmed, and as 12 and 9 year olds, we were absolutely delirious, I mean this was just huge news for a club in decline like ours that was dying on it's arse in the 2nd division. I had to wait until 6pm (cheaper calls) and rang my Dad from the phone box and pleaded with him to get us tickets for his debut, something that we never had to do before now. We came home a few days later and the players were doing a signing session at the old club shop in the West Stand car park, so I went across to town with my mate Ian. It was mobbed and Keegan was there with Imre Varadi, John Trewick and Kenny Wharton.....I was wearing my yellow Bukta away top and I was standing next to KK's big Mercedes when he got out 'Is that the away top, horrible that, we'll have to get it changed' he said to me and winked......I nearly passed out, the great man had spoken to me! I ended up getting it signed by all the players, Keegan's autograph beautifully executed on the back. I still have the shirt now 40 years later, and have passed it on to my son to look after

The next couple of weeks were just a blur of excitement leading up to the QPR game and the big day finally came. I went across on the bus with my Dad and brother and there were black and white tops everywhere in town, this was nothing like a normal match day. Fittingly, it was a glorious day and we and we went up to the Hodgson Arms and we sat outside while my Dad had a few pints with his mates, the singing inside and outside the pub was deafening and it was a party atmosphere. When we went to the ground, there were huge queues to the Gallowgate, but we had tickets for the East Stand benches, the first time I had sat at a game. The colour and the noise, everything felt like it had been turned up about 200% from the previous season, there was even a streaker in luminous green socks. Can't really remember much of the game, but had a great view as Keegan ran in and slid the ball under Hucker for the winner.....absolute carnage for the next 5 mins. I managed to watch all of KK's home games as an NUFC player, and even in the twilight of his career, he was light years ahead of anyone else on the pitch. Watching him Waddle & Beardsley for that one season together was incredible.

 

I hope if we do get taken over the first thing anyone does is name recognise Keegan's huge contribution to NUFC; nobody has done more for the club in modern times.

 

Happy birthday KK, you absolute legend.

 

 

This is beautiful thank you for sharing.

[Guest]

I know Freddie Fletcher was decisive with some fans, but he made this club into having the 2nd best commercial operation after man utd within 2 years.

 

That’s why I wouldn’t have been too much against a Kenyon takeover. Mightn’t have the money of the Saudis but he helped grow Man Utd and Chelsea commercially in a big way.

[Scoot]

You would just never get that joy and excitement about going to a match now as you did then. You just can’t describe how amazing it all was. The excitement building up through the week, the whole day prior to the match and after it. The feeling of supreme confidence that no matter which team was coming to play, you knew you were going to thrash them. Never felt or will feel that kind of thing again. It was unique and an utter joy and privilege to have been a part of. The place was jumping man.

 

I started going to the match in the 92/93 season when I was 8. My dad always said to me that I started going to the match just at the right time, just as our journey with Keegan was starting. He also said, enjoy it as it might not always be like this and I never thought much about it until we see the state the clubs in now and I see exactly what he meant.

 

Those times under Keegan were amazing and even though I was just a kid, I'll never forget them. I was 1 of the only kids in my class to have a season ticket and all my mates were jealous as fuck. Hopefully 1 day we can have a club that tries again.

[Guest reefatoon]

Totally agree Scoot[/member] that's all we want bud. Just shows what it means to bring in a man who is supremely confident, 100% positive and has the right winning attitude like Keegan had. It’s infectious to be around and it lifts everyone and everything around them. He had us dreaming and had us all believing in the club again, so much so, we nearly won the league, that’s how much of a lift a man full of positivity can bring. We felt we could take on anyone. The man is an absolute legend and I love everything he brought to us. As a fan, it was the best ride ever.

[Whitley mag]

[Tsunami]

Some daft Liverpool fans tried to flag our car down for a fight that night. They had some right walloper supporters at that time, there’d been loads of trouble at Anfield when we played them in the cup. We had our scarves out the windows laughing at them. Idiots ?

[Kanji]

Sport in general was different then. It won’t ever be replicated again with such romantics. 

[frankpingel]

Trying to explain what KK coming as a player meant to us to someone and could feel a sense of the excitement in my voice. He just pushed and pulled us out of an absolute depression and ignited the whole city. We'll never get it back but I'm surely glad I was around and old enough to know what was happening.

[Scoreboard82]

Happy birthday king Kev, you absolute superstar. A superstar that chose to join MY/OUR club in one, no two of it's darkest periods and save it. Undoubtedly one of , if not THE most influential men ever associated with NUFC. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

[Robster]

[54]

[Guest chicken little]

don't want to ruin the surprise but i'm fucking howling at tweet 6 like  :lol: