Kevin Keegan

[Incognito]

There used to be a genuine shocked silence whenever anybody dared to score against us at SJP. Contrast that to now when you're just waiting for it to happen. You don't know when but you know it's coming. It's one of the reasons I mock fans of other clubs when they say Keegan didn't know how to organise a side defensively.

[cp40]

did his defending round the oppositions box.

[Carlito]

Miss the man being in charge of our club so much. I have no doubt in my mind that with investment he'd have had us qualifying for Europe. I think the 2nd time he left hurt more than the 1st, and that one was right before my birthday

[Guest Howaythetoon]

There used to be a genuine shocked silence whenever anybody dared to score against us at SJP. Contrast that to now when you're just waiting for it to happen. You don't know when but you know it's coming. It's one of the reasons I mock fans of other clubs when they say Keegan didn't know how to organise a side defensively.

 

KK used to go mad when we conceded. Its true we didn't work on defending much or tactics, but he understood the game alright. Don't concede and you earn a point at worst and a win at best, that was drummed into him at Anfield and he brought that mentality to NUFC. His perfect scoreline was the opposition zero us 4 or 5 or something.

 

I can't remember the game, scoreline or opposition but Darren Peacock once said how they went in at half-time once a few goals up but the opposition had scored and KK was furious such a shit team could have scored/that we basically allowed them to score when we were so good etc.

 

People talk about Wenger's total football, the perfect goal etc. but KK was constantly after the perfect win and result and again it was for us to score as many as possible and the opposition to score none.

 

What he wasn't afraid of though, was conceding a goal, because he trusted his players to score more than the opposition, which resulted in some barmy crazy matches and results at times.

 

KK when asked years later about the 4-3 at Anfield, what would he have liked to have happened and his reply was "3-0 to us", that sums up the man's mentality. Someone like Pardew would have said 1-0 or maybe a draw.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

What upsets me most is that I know for a fact that what happened to KK here second time around knocked his plug in when it comes to NUFC and footy in general in the same way Ashley and co have knocked the stuffing out of all us lot... well most of us (Ian et al excluded... ) In that clip alone you can sense the anger in his voice, his face and especially in his comments. And that's a crying shame becuase KK is as genuine as it gets when it comes to footy, he isn't a former player and manager, he's a fucking fan, like all of us.

[Kanj]

"a draw" so painfully true.

[NG32]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

[Ronaldo]

If only Pavel Srnicek hadn't been such an utter shit keeper.

[Kanj]

What upsets me most is that I know for a fact that what happened to KK here second time around knocked his plug in when it comes to NUFC and footy in general in the same way Ashley and co have knocked the stuffing out of all us lot... well most of us (Ian et al excluded... ) In that clip alone you can sense the anger in his voice, his face and especially in his comments. And that's a crying shame becuase KK is as genuine as it gets when it comes to footy, he isn't a former player and manager, he's a f***ing fan, like all of us.

 

I still believe he has unfinished business and the RIGHT owner of the club gave him the keys to the place, he'd come right back and do it.

[Kanj]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

 

Was just referring to Pardew's ethos on playing to not lose.

[cp40]

can you imagine owners like chelsea or City and Keegan in charge man it would be fucking fantastic.

[NG32]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

 

Was just referring to Pardew's ethos on playing to not lose.

 

Oh i know, just sayng if we had f drew Liverpool away , Blackburn away and Forest away, we might have won that title.

[cp40]

If only Pavel Srnicek hadn't been such an utter shit keeper.

 

 

if only peter schmiechel hadnt played like fucking superman at SJP.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

 

I think we lost by 4 points. Mind Man Utd won something like 11 in 12 towards the end, keeping clean sheerts galore.

 

I personally think everyone connected with the club just wilted a bit under the huge pressure of trying to win us that first title since '27, even KK himself. It stands out as our best ever season since '27 though in terms of the league or top division.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Can anyone remember that close season? It had been a glorious summer weather wise and the buzz around the city and club was ridiculous. I'm sure KK actually said this is the year we will go all out to win the league. Imagine that man, our manager saying that?! Ginola, Sir Les... the way we played, the way we started. Man Utd had that edge in terms of experience and an old/er head in Fergie and to be fair, to beat us to the title, they fucking deserved it.

[Guest]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

 

I think we lost by 4 points. Mind Man Utd won something like 11 in 12 towards the end, keeping clean sheerts galore.

 

I personally think everyone connected with the club just wilted a bit under the huge pressure of trying to win us that first title since '27, even KK himself. It stands out as our best ever season since '27 though in terms of the league or top division.

 

If only we could snip two of the goals from the 5-0 and add them to that 0-1...

[Disco]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

 

I think we lost by 4 points. Mind Man Utd won something like 11 in 12 towards the end, keeping clean sheerts galore.

 

I personally think everyone connected with the club just wilted a bit under the huge pressure of trying to win us that first title since '27, even KK himself. It stands out as our best ever season since '27 though in terms of the league or top division.

 

Cantona 1-0 for a load of that run in. Remember him scoring in Fergie time at Loftus Road for one.

[cp40]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

 

I think we lost by 4 points. Mind Man Utd won something like 11 in 12 towards the end, keeping clean sheerts galore.

 

I personally think everyone connected with the club just wilted a bit under the huge pressure of trying to win us that first title since '27, even KK himself. It stands out as our best ever season since '27 though in terms of the league or top division.

 

Cantona 1-0 for a load of that run in. Remember him scoring in Fergie time at Loftus Road for one.

 

If only he had a bigger ban for the Karate kick at Palace.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

 

I think we lost by 4 points. Mind Man Utd won something like 11 in 12 towards the end, keeping clean sheerts galore.

 

I personally think everyone connected with the club just wilted a bit under the huge pressure of trying to win us that first title since '27, even KK himself. It stands out as our best ever season since '27 though in terms of the league or top division.

 

If only we could snip two of the goals from the 5-0 and add them to that 0-1...

 

That result will probably be regarded as the decider and it was, but more for them than us IMO. When they came away from SJP with that 1-0 win despite a battering all game, that galvanised them and gave them the belief that we were not this rampant runaway train and could be stopped. The result obviously hurt us, but I don't think mentally it had anywhere near as much as an impact on us as it did on them. The Liverpool defeat though... that killed us, especially the manager himself! Great game though

[TheGuv]

 

Happy Keegan day

[Guest neesy111]

[summerof69]

Happy Birthday King Kev, we know you read the forum

[Incognito]

"a draw" so painfully true.

 

Tbh a couple of drawers in that run would have won us the title.  But on the other hand it was a an all or nothing charge to the title

 

Was just referring to Pardew's ethos on playing to not lose.

 

Oh i know, just sayng if we had f drew Liverpool away , Blackburn away and Forest away, we might have won that title.

 

We did draw with Forest away.

[Incognito]

If only Pavel Srnicek hadn't been such an utter shit keeper.

 

Or more to the point Shaka. He was horrendous at Blackburn.

[TheGuv]

From 16 months ago:

 

We've had a summer chock full of commentators telling us how historically important the Jubilee and the Olympics have been, but once you scrape away the veneer of triumphalism and jingoism that the legions of toadies have layered on thick, you could be forgiven for feeling weary about another article on 'history', but please, bear with me.

 

 

As a Newcastle fan just on the wrong side of forty, it's been a trophyless lifetime, but as a proud fan I've always ranked the history and traditions of our club as extremely important and have observed that recently it's not always being written by the studious Paul Joannou. With the re-branding of the stadium and the launch of a credible PR campaign by our present incumbents at Barrack Road, it seems certain parts of our history have been air-brushed to suit certain tastes and fit in with a changed climate of rapprochement between "us and them". Erection of statues- first Milburn and then SBR- have been lauded in some quarters as a signal that the fans' relationship with the power elite is beginning to change and certainly, with the team doing so surprisingly well last season under Pardew, there could be some validity in this.

 

But something doesn't quite fit with this particular writer...I feel there is an elephant in the room. Well, not really an elephant, but a giant nonetheless - a character from our past that lurks in the recesses of our consciences. For people over a certain age, the mere mention of his name evokes feelings and emotions that grown men normally try hard to suppress in public. Yet to the "new generation fan" that now obsesses over balance sheets and hard nosed football economics, the name can conjure a cynical sneer.

 

History is not all about dates, but they are important, so let me take you back 30 years to a 'biggie' in the history of NUFC... August 1982. The start of the affair.England's World Cup captain of that summer, Kevin Keegan, snubbed Ron Atkinson's Champagne Charlies in Manchester and signed for a Second Division club that had been in the doldrums for years. To those of you not quite old enough to absorb the significance of this, imagine Messi going to Leeds this summer! I may be exaggerating slightly (only slightly) but to an 11yr old, whose football consciousness had been awakened in the 1970's by the mercurial Mighty Mouse's exploits for Liverpool and Hamburg, this curly haired maestro really was the business.

 

However, it didn't stop new England manager Bobby Robson, without even a courtesy call to the player, promptly announcing to the press he was dropping KK from his squad and thus for a long period of time, becoming a figure of hate and ridicule on Tyneside. Remember?

 

You may hear people say KK wasn't a "natural" talent like a Best or Cruyff, but 2 European Footballer of the Year Awards have never been given to journeymen who couldn't play. What is more, the player, just as he later proved as a manager, was a catalyst for special things to happen. Oozing charisma, style and the ability to inspire those of varying ability; a club, a city, a region was resurrected by the arrival of Keegan. In the days when rampant Thatcherism ravaged our daily lives, ordinary people could escape into the webs of wonder weaved by a front three of Beardsley, Waddle and Keegan.

 

Facts and figures show a team promoted in third at the second time of asking, not too great defensively (what a surprise) but stats can't relay the essence of football played progressively - the romance, the excitement, that tantalising tingle of expectation we all experience when special talents advance forward with an armoury of tricks, cunning and guile at their disposal and a roaring crowd behind them, galvanised with expectation. And this was just a taster of what lay ahead in the future.

 

I don't know what happened in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, but I do know I witnessed why this man from Doncaster, with his roots in the deep dark mines of Stanley, was hailed a Messiah!

 

The theatre of his departing helicopter at his testimonial was all the more significant for me that night as my Dad - a cynic who had given up supporting a club with a long history of corruption and bad management - paid a tout through the nose to join our regular group in an emotional farewell tribute. I still get goosebumps thinking about it...and shivers recalling the false dawn that it signalled.

 

Fast forward 8 years, numerous top player sales and relegation and the club were not only on the brink of the 3rd Division, but also the bankruptcy that demotion would spell. My hair had started to fall out quicker than a Nuclear War survivor's, watching Ossie's youngsters lose so entertainingly every week. John Hall, in a last desperate attempt to save the club went for a populist gamble and announced the 'Second Coming'. The consummate salesman Hall, (also from the mining provinces) had the balls to go on Saint & Greavsie on the day of KK's managerial debut and proclaim to the the nation, "Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, step aside...we're coming through!" If you don't believe me, I still have the recording on the back end of a VHS cassette with a rather dodgy German exotic flick as a curtain (and eyebrow) raiser!

 

A nerve wracking final day escape was followed by a swashbuckling Championship cakewalk and Premiership finishes of 3rd, 6th and 2nd! We were the Entertainers, the Kings of Derring-Do.

 

Yes, look at those stats, absorb them, feel their impact. Remember them, be proud. If you're not old enough, watch the Premiership Years on Sky, search the internet for the goals, go and talk to those who witnessed it, read a book about it, listen to ex-players who make a living out of talking about the best part of their careers when the editor of this esteemed mag brings them back to a social club near you! Those years have passed, yes, but they were the years which launched our club back into the higher echelons of the football community in this country and abroad and put the foundations down for the magnificent stadium that now sits on the hill. Without Kevin Joseph Keegan, none of it would have happened. None.

 

We may have just continued to trudge through piss to watch the club flatline and become a footnote in a "once they were famous" documentary. No Robson. No San Siro nights. No present.

 

This is the reason why a significant portion of fans still feel aggrieved about the events of August 2008 when a man was betrayed, defamed and humiliated and a true club legend, who was hot-wired to the fans' emotional psyche, was discarded so callously.

 

George Orwell wrote: "who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past".

 

This may explain why there is continued deification of SBR and sugar-coating of his contribution to NUFC while there is no statue or even acknowledgement of Keegan's contribution to the club's modern history. Of course, given the fallout of 2008 and the fact the great man is still alive and able to talk, there isn't likely to be anything forthcoming from Mike and Delboy in their tenure, but they will pass and there will still be some of us who will live to tell a different version of events to the revisionists who write tomorrow's history.

 

Who knows, maybe in the future, Hollywood or The Comic Strip Presents..will make a film called the "Greatest Football Story Ever Told" and the modern day acting equivalent of John Wayne, dressed as a Roman centurion, will pronounce,"Truly, this man was the son of God" - just after the fans have forsaken KK and crucified him instead of Barabbas Ashley? This maybe a better epitaph for KK than a bloody statue anyway - after looking at the dubious Robson resemblance recently erected in bronze, I fear future generations may think Leo Sayer signed for us in August 1982 and couldn't keep away from the place!

 

Go tell it on the mountain and never forget where you're coming from.

 

Winston Smith