Another Keegan article

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2089009,00.html

 

King Kev's circus act

Jamie Jackson

Sunday May 27, 2007

 

He left his job as Manchester City manager just over two years ago and has not worked in the professional game since. In a rare interview, Kevin Keegan talks about his career, how he is still involved in the game he loves and gives his biggest hint yet that he might return to the cauldron of management

 

A sultry evening in the Eternal City. The lights of the Vatican sparkle in the distance as, down on the grass of the Olympic Stadium, the Liverpool team soak up the glory of beating Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 to claim a first European Cup in the club's history. It is going to be a good night in Rome.

A rainy evening 30 years later. One hundred corporate guests settle down to watch Liverpool take on Milan in Athens for the 2007 European Cup. They are sitting in a hall in Soccer Circus, an interactive football skills arcade that occupies a hangar in Braehead, the site of a vast retail park next to the broken streets and pubs of Govan, near Glasgow.

 

While the dads watch Steven Gerrard and company endure an evening of heartbreaking frustration, the kids are passing, running, dribbling, shooting and generally having a great time playing the centre's various games accompanied by the Soccer Circus owner, and host for the night, Kevin Keegan. Yet the man so vital to that Liverpool triumph three decades ago - his run won the Phil Neal penalty that sealed victory - has little interest in watching this year's attempt to win a sixth European Cup.

'I saw the goals,' he says the morning after Rafael Benitez's team lost 2-1 to Milan in Athens. 'But I had the corporate in and was more concerned making sure the kids and everyone was OK. Sure it hurt that Liverpool lost, but life goes on.'

 

For the 56-year-old it certainly does. On Friday the new Wembley hosts a first England game in seven years. In October 2000 Keegan was the last England coach to take charge in a full international played under the Twin Towers, when a 1-0 defeat by Germany, in a World Cup qualifier prompted the former double European Footballer of the Year to resign. 'I made the decision walking off the pitch. I have no regrets. What is the point in looking back? Life should be about next month, next week, tomorrow.'

 

So, will he watch on Friday? 'What's that one,' he asks? 'Is it a B international?' Told Brazil are the visitors, Keegan says: 'I probably won't watch it because I'll be working here.'

 

This is the mantra that unfolds during two fascinating hours in Keegan's company. When Observer Sport arrives he is guiding a group of children around Soccer Circus. The enthusiasm that marked him as a player, then as manager of Newcastle, Fulham and Manchester City, is obvious and, alongside his wife Jean - a smiling, friendly presence - Keegan seems content. After the kids leave with signed footballs and group photos, we retire to Shankly's Bar, the Soccer Circus cafe named after the great manager who took Keegan from Scunthorpe to Liverpool in 1971 for £35,000 and was, he says, a 'massive influence' on his career.

 

Like the legendary Scot, Keegan became a massively popular football figure because of a common touch and an honesty that endeared the man, hailed as a messiah at every club he managed, to fans, players and pundits alike. On Tyneside Keegan is a folk hero, adored by Geordies for the attacking style of play that took the team to the brink of winning the Premiership in 1996 and provoked, for a fleeting moment, the hope that fantasy football could win titles.

 

'Had we done it we may have changed the thinking of some very dour people who almost indoctrinate that you have to work from the back,' he says. 'We did totally the opposite. No, we didn't win a championship, but finished second - more than most sides that are well organised. And, wow, did we pick up some fans on the way.'

 

Towards the end of that season Keegan, famously, took umbrage with Alex Ferguson after the Scot claimed that teams were more determined when playing Manchester United rather than Newcastle. After a difficult victory over Leeds in their next match, Keegan exploded with his legendary diatribe in a TV interview. Keegan, again, had added to his multitude of admirers. 'People come in here and ask me all the time about the Alex Ferguson one,' he says with a chuckle. 'They say, "I would love it if I beat you round here, just love it." I laugh about it - it certainly does not annoy me. I think it's very funny. And a lot of people come up and say, "I really liked your interview, it showed you cared." If you can't laugh at yourself you cannot laugh at anyone.'

 

This is typical Keegan. But it only adds to the impression that persists throughout our chat that professional football has lost something invaluable if he never returns.

 

Keegan's determination and commitment to what he describes as 'the next generation of the leisure centre' is never in doubt. With limited school playing fields, growing obesity and the Government's desire to encourage everyone to exercise - 'the professionals, women, children, everyone can take part here' - there does seem a bright future for the centre, especially as schools in Glasgow use their budget to visit - a model that might spread.

 

Yet Keegan never manages to convince that his dream of spreading Soccer Circus all over the world would leave him satisfied. This is, after all, the man who retired from playing at Newcastle in 1984 by jumping into a helicopter that landed on St James' Park while declaring that management was not an option, then returned to take over in 1992. The reason he offers for agreeing to Sir John Hall, the owner at the time, when he called at his Hampshire farmhouse - 'I just fancied it' - suggests that there might be a way back.

 

But he is insistent. 'This idea has been with me since I retired from playing. It's more important than managing another football club. I went to Fulham and took them up from the old Third Division to the Premiership. I went to Newcastle and Manchester City and we took them up. But to do at Manchester City what we did at Newcastle is impossible now. The goalposts have been moved.'

 

Why? 'The big four clubs - people don't understand. Tottenham are the nearest to Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, but the financial gulf is massive.' Surely the Keegan name and charisma, which could attract the better players, is what might help a club to make that breakthrough. 'No. It doesn't work like that. Not now,' he says, again pointing to finance. 'It's just the way it is.'

 

Joseph Kevin Keegan was born on 14 February 1951 in Yorkshire. Rejected by local club Doncaster, he signed for Scunthorpe in 1968 and made 124 appearances and was influenced by a team-mate, Derek Hemstead. 'When I saw him train up and down the cantilever stand at Scunthorpe with weights and I noticed his physique, that was it for me. By the time I got to Liverpool the players couldn't believe how fit I was. There's a quote from Bill Shankly saying that I had to be first in everything.'

 

In 1973 Keegan helped Liverpool to win their first league title for seven years, forming a famous strike partnership with John Toshack. And by the time he departed for Hamburg in 1977 for a record £500,000, 'Mighty Mouse' had added two more championships, two Uefa Cups, an FA Cup and that first European title.

 

At 27, Keegan was at his peak and could have been in the Liverpool teams that won another three European Cups in the next seven years. So why the move? 'When everything in the garden is rosy and you think you've got where you wanted to, it's time to move on. It was a case of "why not?"'

 

Three hugely successful years in West Germany followed. Hamburg won the Bundesliga in 1979 and reached the European Cup final the next season, losing to Nottingham Forest. Keegan was also awarded his two European Footballer of the Year awards - a feat he managed in successive seasons. 'And I was second the year before. No Englishman has won it twice. And that was at a time when there was [Johan] Cruyff and [Franz] Beckenbauer and lot of other good players around.'

 

Keegan's instinct for the counterintuitive took him to Southampton - 'I could have gone to Juventus, but it interested me' - for two seasons and the supreme consistency that was the hallmark of one of the great British playing careers continued with 37 goals in 68 league games. Keegan then left for his swansong at Newcastle, having added the PFA Player of the Year to the Football Writers' award he had won in 1976.

 

'I was England captain, but I chose to drop down a division,' he says of the move to Tyneside - a decision that ended his international career when Bobby Robson took over as manager after the 1982 World Cup.

 

Having had the misfortune to play when England spent a decade failing to qualify for European Championships and World Cups, Keegan had travelled to Spain as captain, but injury limited him to 26 minutes in the draw with the hosts that knocked England out. Then came the falling-out with Robson and, 25 years later, Keegan feels strongly about it. 'He came to watch a Newcastle game and told me, "I'll see you next week." So that meant I'd be in the England squad. And he left me out. If he's come in and said "I'm not picking you" then fine. But I found out from the press.'

 

And then, just for a moment, we edge back towards the croak of the Ferguson incident. 'That was my argument and he can't defend that. You know he never tried to defend that. As a manager you can't defend that. But it doesn't matter any more.'

 

Before taking over at St James' Park, Keegan survived what he describes as the most terrifying moment of his life. In April 1991 he was attacked while sleeping in his Range Rover by the M25 at Reigate Hill in Surrey. 'It was my first day back living in the country after seven years away on the Costa del Sol. I thought they were going to kill me.

 

'I had a lot of bad luck all the way home. I'd driven 1,600 miles and hardly slept. My intention was to sleep on the ferry crossing and then I got this Spurs fan,' he says with a laugh. 'He kept asking what I think about Tottenham and I ended up talking all the way across. I got in my car at Dover but fell asleep at the wheel and someone tooted me. I parked up and put a pillow against my head that Jean had given me. That saved my life.'

 

Did the three attackers - who later said in court that they needed money for a drugs debt - know who he was? 'No, it was dark. They threw a massive stone that hit my head but fortunately also hit the pillow as well. Then they hit me with a baseball bat, took my wallet and I tried to get out. Jean and the kids had flown, but I needed to get the car home as well.' Did it put him off settling back in England? 'No. But for a few days I did think, "Wow, what have I come back to?"'

 

What he had returned to would be the Newcastle job and five years that made his reputation. They were second- bottom of the old Second Division and Keegan saved the club from relegation to the third tier of English football on a dramatic last day of the 1991-92 season. Then came the good times.

 

Promotion followed the next year as he built a glittering team that would include Peter Beardsley, Andy Cole, David Ginola, Alan Shearer, Philippe Albert and Faustino Asprilla. The sale of Cole, who scored 55 goals in 70 league games, in January 1995 to Manchester United for £6million was a surprise. But the manager's decision to confront the fans on the steps of St James' Park - all caught by TV cameras - was pure Keegan.

 

'They wanted to know why he'd been sold. That's perfectly normal and I was the only guy who could say. The board said, "Are you sure? You're going to put yourself and us under a lot of pressure." But that was a strange day because Alex Ferguson rang me about 10 o'clock - you've got to remember we kept it really quiet, you couldn't do it now. I didn't tell Andy. I just told his agent to take him down and get him signed and in the car.'

 

The next season came the arrival of Asprilla, blamed by many as the catalyst for the loss of a 12-point lead as United won the title - 'It was actually lost because of the one match, really,' says Keegan, 'when we battered them at our place and lost 1-0' - and by January 1997 he had quit, citing frustrations at the Stock Exchange flotation. He would eventually walk away from three of his four management jobs - he left Fulham when he was offered the England post - when he believed he was unable to take sides farther.

 

He describes the international job as 'soulless. The players aren't really yours. They're on loan. It's soulless because for three months - and even Steve McClaren would admit this - where do you go on a Saturday to watch something that's interesting? It's easier for him because there's a lot more English players playing in the Premiership. In my time it was ridiculous, there was a dearth - if you look at the clubs then, most had just one, two, maybe three. Now teams like Spurs have got seven.'

 

Keegan resigned 'in the bath at Wembley' after the Germany defeat because he believed his inspirational style of management was not enough for the tactical battle at that level. But surely internationals can deal with that area.

 

'Yeah, they should. But they still need guidance. But another element is friendlies. Have a look at those I played as a manager. They were top notch. We never played any knockovers - we played Argentina, France and Brazil. My record is probably the worst, but if I swapped my friendlies with easy rides it might have been the best.'

 

Keegan is sure England will be playing in Euro 2008, despite the qualifying difficulties so far. But whether he watches how McClaren's team fare in the friendly on Friday or in the qualifier against Estonia on 6 June depends on work. 'Football is something I really love. But I can take it or leave it,' says Keegan. Then, after a pause. 'And I've chosen to leave it at the moment.'

 

For good? 'It looks like it. But the trouble with football is you never know. You just never know.'

 

The life and times of Mighty Mouse

 

Born

 

14 February 1951, Doncaster

 

Club playing career

 

Scunthorpe 1968-1971

 

Was rejected by home-town club Doncaster as a boy, but Scunthorpe spotted his talent. Became a pro at 17, played 124 league games before Bill Shankly moved in.

 

Liverpool 1971-1977

 

Signed for £35,000 - and scored 12 minutes into his debut against Nottingham Forest at Anfield. Made 230 appearances, scoring 68 league goals. In 1974 scored six goals in the FA Cup, including two in the final at Wembley against Newcastle. Lifted the European Cup in his final game for the club - a 3-1 win over Borussia Monchengladbach in Rome - and was voted eighth in Liverpool fans' 100 Players Who Shook the Kop in 2006.

 

Hamburg 1977-1980

 

Moves for £500,000, at the time a record for a British player Named European Footballer of the Year twice (1978 and 1979). Hundreds of German babies christened 'Kevin'.

 

Southampton 1980-1982

 

Liverpool had first option to buy him back, but Bob Paisley decided not to take up the offer. In 1980-81 the Saints scored 76 goals and finished sixth - then their highest league finish. Named PFA Player of the Year in 1982, aged 31.

 

Newcastle 1982-1984

 

Scored 48 goals in 78 matches, helping Newcastle to promotion from the old Second Division. Adored by the Toon faithful. Retired in 1984 with a career haul of five league titles, three domestic cups and three European trophies.

 

England playing career

 

Played 63 games (31 as captain) and scored 21 goals, but played only a few minutes of a World Cup (1982) because of a chronic back injury.

 

Management career

 

Newcastle 1992-1997

 

Finished second in the Premiership in '96 - and made his trademark 'love it' rant against Alex Ferguson (see quotes). United closed Newcastle's 12-point gap. Keegan resigned in January 1997.

 

Fulham 1998-1999

 

Won the Second Division for Mohamed Fayed in a record-breaking season - but left to manage England.

 

England 1999-2000

 

Hard times. Criticised for tactical naivety as England squandered leads against Portugal and Romania at Euro 2000. Resigned after a 1-0 defeat by Germany in England's last game at the old Wembley.

 

Manchester City 2001-2005

 

Started spectacularly - won the First Division, the team scoring 124 goals in all competitions. But the form did not last and City began to slide. Left the club in March 2005 saying he had retired from football for good. Linked with several jobs since City, including Doncaster, Hearts and Sunderland, and was set to join Beitar Jerusalem in May last year, but pulled out when the details were leaked to the press.

 

Trivia

 

· Nickname: Mighty Mouse, for his lack of height, speed and bravery.

 

· reated an OBE in 1982 for services to football.

 

· Enjoyed brief pop career with 'Head Over Heels in Love', which reached 31 in the charts in 1979.

 

· Lives in Ayrshire and works full-time on his Glasgow Soccer Circus.

 

Love it! The best quotes

 

1997, Keegan's most famous post-match chat - shown live on Sky. Keegan was responding to Alex Ferguson's suggestion that teams tried harder against Man Utd than Newcastle...

 

'When you do that with footballers like he said about Leeds... I've kept really quiet, but I'll tell you something: he went down in my estimation when he said that - we have not resorted to that. But I'll tell ya - you can tell him now if you're watching it - we're still fighting for this title, and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something, and... and I tell you honestly, I will love it if we beat them - LOVE IT!'

 

Explaining the rant three years later...

 

'I could have been more eloquent, but the adrenaline was pumping. The problem in this country is that if you show passion, people think there's something wrong with you.'

 

George Best on Keegan the player

 

'He's been very, very lucky - an average player who came into the game when it was short of personalities... He's not fit to lace my boots as a player.'

 

Keegan on his Liverpool career

 

'The only thing I fear is missing an open goal in front of the Kop. I would die if that happened. When they start singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" my eyes start to water. There have been times when I've actually been crying while playing.'

 

Keegan's programme notes before England versus Germany in 2000

 

'I'm not a person who goes into a deep depression after a defeat. I try to remain upbeat. I'm realistic enough to know that results are often unpredictable and, when all is said and done, things don't always work out as one would wish.' (England lost 1-0; Keegan resigned minutes later.)

 

On his inspiration

 

'I always carry a picture of Bill Shankly with me. He comes into my conversation a lot. I owe the man a great deal.'

 

On his fame

 

'Most people want to talk to me about my perm, or when I fell off a bike on Superstars, or heading a ball with Tony Blair. But I say to my wife Jean, "My perm? That was 30 years ago!"'

 

And finally... Keegan as a pundit

 

· 'England can end the millennium as it started - as the greatest football nation in the world.'

 

· 'Sol Campbell there, using his strength. And that is his strength, his strength.'

 

· 'I'd love it to be a mole on the wall in the Liverpool dressing room at half time.'

[manorpark]

To me, the really "odd" thing about what Keegan says, is when he refers to "Tottenham as being the nearest to the current top four in the Premiership", citing the massive financial gulf, as the reason.

 

In fact, over the last ten years, there have only been FIVE financially massive football clubs in this country, and they have been (always, over that time) in varying order, Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

 

The turnover (income) of these five clubs puts them in a financial bracket WAY ahead of the rest. There has always been a very large turnover gap between 5th and the rest.

 

So why would he say what he said?

 

I know a lot of people are easily duped by London-based hype (our so-called 'National' media, is really just London-local) but for him to refer to Tottenham and to do so for alleged "financial" reasons - is RIDICULOUS  -  for a football-aware person, as he is supposed to be.  Just stupid.

 

All of this is, of course, before the Ashley impact, which (as it drives up income, I'm not talking about any money of his own that he may put into the club) will only widen the huge gap of the last ten years (albeit less than 10, for Chelsea) between the BIG FIVE FINANCIAL CLUBS, and the also-rans.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

George Best on Keegan the player

 

'He's been very, very lucky - an average player who came into the game when it was short of personalities... He's not fit to lace my boots as a player.'

What an arsehole George Best was.

[Guest Geordiesned]

George Best on Keegan the player

 

'He's been very, very lucky - an average player who came into the game when it was short of personalities... He's not fit to lace my boots as a player.'

What an arsehole George Best was.

 

You're not not fit to lace his boots George. You're dead.

[Guest Alan Shearer 9]

To me, the really "odd" thing about what Keegan says, is when he refers to "Tottenham as being the nearest to the current top four in the Premiership", citing the massive financial gulf, as the reason.

 

In fact, over the last ten years, there have only been FIVE financially massive football clubs in this country, and they have been (always, over that time) in varying order, Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

 

The turnover (income) of these five clubs puts them in a financial bracket WAY ahead of the rest. There has always been a very large turnover gap between 5th and the rest.

 

So why would he say what he said?

 

I know a lot of people are easily duped by London-based hype (our so-called 'National' media, is really just London-local) but for him to refer to Tottenham and to do so for alleged "financial" reasons - is RIDICULOUS  -  for a football-aware person, as he is supposed to be.  Just stupid.

 

All of this is, of course, before the Ashley impact, which (as it drives up income, I'm not talking about any money of his own that he may put into the club) will only widen the huge gap of the last ten years (albeit less than 10, for Chelsea) between the BIG FIVE FINANCIAL CLUBS, and the also-rans.

 

Keegan isn't a football aware person. In his autobiography he says since he left the sport he hardly even watches games, fallen out of love with mainstream football.

[Guest Triglett]

Think you might have read it wrong. He's saying the finanacial gulf is massive between the top 4 and the rest (including Spurs), not Spurs and the rest. Think he means Spurs are closest, like, you know, normally.

[manorpark]

But, as we know, the financial gulf is between the big (financial) five and the rest, not any mythical financial big 4. 

 

There is currently a fairly clear top four (in recent seasons) in the premiership  -  on performance.  That is not what I (and the Keegan article) are talking about here though.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

well, for a guy out of football, he sure is giving a lot of interviews to sports journo's

[Guest Knightrider]

well, for a guy out of football, he sure is giving a lot of interviews to sports journo's

 

He has a product to sell, and to be fair to the man himself, he's still newsworthy and always will be because he's Kevin Keegan.

[manorpark]

The below figures are a couple of years old, they are the only ones I have, but I think the relative positions are still the same now - same top five English Clubs.  The big gap is after us, down to Tottenham, as can be seen.

 

1 (1) Man Utd £171.5m

2 (4) Real Madrid £156.3m

3 (3) AC Milan £147.2m

4 (10) Chelsea £143.7m

5 (2) Juventus £142.4m

6 (7) Arsenal £115m

7 (13) Barcelona £110.1m

8 (6) Inter Milan £110.3m

9 (5) Bayern Munich £110.1m

10 (8) Liverpool £92.3m

11 (10) Newcastle £90.5m

12 (11) Roma £72m

13 (18) Celtic £69m

14 (16) Tottenham £66.3m

15 (15) Lazio £65.8m

16 (-) Man City £61.9m

17 (14) Schalke £60.5m

18 (-) Marseille £58.3m

19 (-) Rangers £57.1m

20 (-) Aston Villa £55.9m Source: Deloitte

Previous season's position in brackets

 

(LATER - Not sure where that smiley came from!!!  I didn't put it there!)

[Guest Knightrider]

The below figures are a couple of years old, they are the only ones I have, but I think the relative positions are still the same now - same top five English Clubs.  The big gap is after us, down to Tottenham, as can be seen.

 

1 (1) Man Utd £171.5m

2 (4) Real Madrid £156.3m

3 (3) AC Milan £147.2m

4 (10) Chelsea £143.7m

5 (2) Juventus £142.4m

6 (7) Arsenal £115m

7 (13) Barcelona £110.1m

8 (6) Inter Milan £110.3m

9 (5) Bayern Munich £110.1m

10 (8) Liverpool £92.3m

11 (10) Newcastle £90.5m

12 (11) Roma £72m

13 (18) Celtic £69m

14 (16) Tottenham £66.3m

15 (15) Lazio £65.8m

16 (-) Man City £61.9m

17 (14) Schalke £60.5m

18 (-) Marseille £58.3m

19 (-) Rangers £57.1m

20 (-) Aston Villa £55.9m Source: Deloitte

Previous season's position in brackets

 

Who cares, I can see this turning into another NUFC/Spurs thread...

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

man why do you even give a shit? It's not like being rich has got us anywhere so far has it?

 

GET OVER IT MAN!

[Guest Triglett]

But, as we know, the financial gulf is between the big (financial) five and the rest, not any mythical financial big 4. 

 

There is currently a fairly clear top four (in recent seasons) in the premiership  -  on performance.  That is not what I (and the Keegan article) are talking about here though.

 

In terms of turnover:

 

Man Utd £166.4m

Chelsea £149.1m

Liverpool £122.4m

Arsenal £115.7m

Newcastle £87.1m

Spurs £70.6m

 

I'd say that the top 4 are in a league of their own, even financially. And I might be stubborn, or just thick, but I still read what Keegan's saying as the financial gulf clearly seperates the top 4 from Spurs.

 

[manorpark]

It is still the only way to get us anywhere Invicta - the only way.

 

As I hope you will find out over the coming years.

[manorpark]

Triglett  -  why "from Spurs" ?

 

Why mention that at all.

[Thespence]

I think the point KK was making that the Spurs squad is nearest to the big 4, this is proved by them finish 5th, I also think they have got a good coach, good first XI* & good squad players*. But they do not have the wonga to make the big 4 change to the mega 5.

 

Frank fooking off to Chelsea & Carrick shooting off to Man Utd proves they are not BIG ENOUGH YET.

 

*=Jenas,Ghaly & Mido not included

[Guest Triglett]

Triglett  -  why "from Spurs" ?

 

Why mention that at all.

 

Not sure what you mean? Because Keegan's implying that the financial gulf stops Spurs, who he views as being closest to the top 4, from breaking into it.

[manorpark]

I just meant, why select them to mention? 

 

Especially as he seems to have been principally talking in a financial context, and as there are really only five clubs to mention in that context (ie, with HIGH Turnover) you would expect he would mention us.

 

After all, he did used to work here, so he should know . .  even if he is not too involved in football now.

 

It just seems odd.

 

Thats all, didn't want to make too big a thing about it.

[manorpark]

NOT "Another Spurs Thread".

 

Very amusing - NOT.

 

It just so happened that the odd selection of a club to mention (by KK) was them.

 

Thats all.

 

Do not make it into something it isn't!

[Guest Knightrider]

Semantics then

[manorpark]

Re: Another Keegan article

 

_____________

 

Not Semantics / Not Spurs.

 

Lets change the title back eh?

[danswan]

So is this thread now anti-semantic/racist? It's just I know spurs have a large jewish following

 

Yours Sincerely

danswan

 

[manorpark]

Very funny - not.

[danswan]

Gah!

 

Yours Sincerely,

danswan

[Guest graemeh72]

But, as we know, the financial gulf is between the big (financial) five and the rest, not any mythical financial big 4. 

 

There is currently a fairly clear top four (in recent seasons) in the premiership  -  on performance.  That is not what I (and the Keegan article) are talking about here though.

 

In terms of turnover:

 

Man Utd £166.4m

Chelsea £149.1m

Liverpool £122.4m

Arsenal £115.7m

Newcastle £87.1m

Spurs £70.6m

 

I'd say that the top 4 are in a league of their own, even financially. And I might be stubborn, or just thick, but I still read what Keegan's saying as the financial gulf clearly seperates the top 4 from Spurs.

 

 

Turnover isn't a true test of financial performance .... t/o should be taken with a pinch of salt - net profit is what you should be looking at .... failing that Gross Profit