Kevin Keegan book extracts: ‘I was sick of them'

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Got to admit I've always liked Kev and try to overlook his time with the unwashed.

He always tried his hardest which I admired. Brilliant player because he played with sheer force of will.

He was only little but could out-jump the biggest centre forwards. His name at Hamburg was Machtig Maus, Mighty Mouse which summed him up brilliantly.

There was also this huge sense of fairness and responsibility when he was captain. Running the GNR in a half and half strip long before it became a Facebook thing.

He was always a bit emotional which is how he connected with the Mags. The "Love it... Love it" speech and some of the scraps he got into as a player.

Anyway I like the bloke, tin hat firmly on.
 
ilovehorswill said:
Got to admit I've always liked Kev and try to overlook his time with the unwashed.

He always tried his hardest which I admired. Brilliant player because he played with sheer force of will.

He was only little but could out-jump the biggest centre forwards. His name at Hamburg was Machtig Maus, Mighty Mouse which summed him up brilliantly.

There was also this huge sense of fairness and responsibility when he was captain. Running the GNR in a half and half strip long before it became a Facebook thing.

He was always a bit emotional which is how he connected with the Mags. The "Love it... Love it" speech and some of the scraps he got into as a player.

Anyway I like the bloke, tin hat firmly on.
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most of us didnt mind him but we all enjoyed his meltdown more so for the grief it gave the scum fans and the team,didnt help himself tho with the walking away at the first sign of things not going his way,to leave when the scum were 2nd in the PL was madness,if i remember rightly it was after a 1-1 draw with liverpool,hardly a disaster.perhaps we should of seen in coming after he retired at 33 when still in good shape.he certainly wont be remembered as a great manager,probably average at best.
 
bomber said:
most of us didnt mind him but we all enjoyed his meltdown more so for the grief it gave the scum fans and the team,didnt help himself tho with the walking away at the first sign of things not going his way,to leave when the scum were 2nd in the PL was madness,if i remember rightly it was after a 1-1 draw with liverpool,hardly a disaster.perhaps we should of seen in coming after he retired at 33 when still in good shape.he certainly wont be remembered as a great manager,probably average at best.
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When he left we were 4th in the league, we'd beat Man United 5-0 near the end of October then a couple of weeks later went top after beating Boro, didn't win again until the Christmas period beating Spurs 7-1. We dropped as lowas 6th at one point.
There was talk of him wrapping it in on boxing day after losing away to Blackburn.
Beat Spurs 7-1 a few days later, then beat Leeds 3-0 at new year, his final game was a home draw against Charlton in the FA cup.
As he's said plenty times before it was all about the club being floated which was what caused him to eventually wrap it in. The same PLC sold Ferdinand the following summer despite Dalglish not wanting to sell him. The board voted on it, after spurs had made an offer, and with medical advice (the club doctor advised that Ferdinand had dodgy knees and he might be lucky to play on another year) the board sold him. Absolute divvies. Ferdinand was 31 at the time and i think he played for another 7 years.

Also about him retiring at 33, we played liverpool in the cup in 84, when we were still second division, and keegan says he had a few yards on Lawrenson in a race for the ball and Lawro caught him up and left him standing, that's when he realised he was finished at the top level and didn't want to be one of those players who's quality dimimishes as he gets older, so went out on a high
 
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What A Waster said:
When he left we were 4th in the league, we'd beat Man United 5-0 near the end of October then a couple of weeks later went top after beating Boro, didn't win again until the Christmas period beating Spurs 7-1. We dropped as lowas 6th at one point.
There was talk of him wrapping it in on boxing day after losing away to Blackburn.
Beat Spurs 7-1 a few days later, then beat Leeds 3-0 at new year, his final game was a home draw against Charlton in the FA cup.
As he's said plenty times before it was all about the club being floated which was what caused him to eventually wrap it in. The same PLC sold Ferdinand the following summer despite Dalglish not wanting to sell him. The board voted on it, after spurs had made an offer, and with medical advice (the club doctor advised that Ferdinand had dodgy knees and he might be lucky to play on another year) the board sold him. Absolute divvies. Ferdinand was 31 at the time and i think he played for another 7 years.

Also about him retiring at 33, we played liverpool in the cup in 84, when we were still second division, and keegan says he had a few yards on Lawrenson in a race for the ball and Lawro caught him up and left him standing, that's when he realised he was finished at the top level and didn't want to be one of those players who's quality dimimishes as he gets older, so went out on a high
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my thinking was they were 2nd,i did state it was just a thought,i do remember the comments about lawrenson,but still think there was a year or two left in him,he looked after himself,player managers were quite common at the time and actually i think he could well of learned a lot starting at a earlier age,a few average seasons/mid table would of put him in a better position for when things go wrong,at nufc it was all up and up for 4/5 years hence the meltdown that followed also when you went up man city and leeds were still in DIV 2 perhaps a player/manager would of been a thought.
 
bomber said:
most of us didnt mind him but we all enjoyed his meltdown more so for the grief it gave the scum fans and the team,didnt help himself tho with the walking away at the first sign of things not going his way,to leave when the scum were 2nd in the PL was madness,if i remember rightly it was after a 1-1 draw with liverpool,hardly a disaster.perhaps we should of seen in coming after he retired at 33 when still in good shape.he certainly wont be remembered as a great manager,probably average at best.
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He wasn’t a great manager, but was very good. He took a few teams, not just Newcastle, through the leagues and left them in much better nick than when he came in.

I think he was probably too emotional, which is why he would quit when he could but make a breakthrough. But he always stepped down when he thought he had no more to offer, like at England. He was not selfish and driven by ego, unlike most modern football people.
 
MrBraithwaite said:
He wasn’t a great manager, but was very good. He took a few teams, not just Newcastle, through the leagues and left them in much better nick than when he came in.

I think he was probably too emotional, which is why he would quit when he could but make a breakthrough. But he always stepped down when he thought he had no more to offer, like at England. He was not selfish and driven by ego, unlike most modern football people.
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Or money. He lost a lot of money in compensation walking away as soon as he realised a job wasn't for him.

Imagine how much the club would have saved if the majority of our managers had done that over the last 10 years.
 
martinsmithsonofpele said:
My uncle was a carpet fitter at his place, the guy was tight as fuck. Bought the cheapest shit in the place and constantly asked for discounts.
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Nowt wrong with being frugal - it’s not like he came from a wealthy background!

ilovehorswill said:
Or money. He lost a lot of money in compensation walking away as soon as he realised a job wasn't for him.

Imagine how much the club would have saved if the majority of our managers had done that over the last 10 years.
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Yeah. I always liked the fact he seemed to have a lot of time for kids. It really makes a big difference for the young ones.
 
The Situation said:
Fergie as a favour to Mendes with Bebe in order to get De Gea.
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Add to that when Man United sold Welbeck for in excess of £10 mill they spent the entire fee on a season long loan for the Mendes represented Falcao to sit him on the bench whilst he was getting fit again and simultaneously paying Chicarito's wages in full to sit on Madrid's bench!

Great business sense I'm sure :lol:
 
Reiver said:
He overplays his 'man of the people' act ...... comes across as smarmy imo.
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He might be . But I have to say, I've met him, and an old mate had a bit to do with him yonks ago with the charity Keegan was involved in and which assisted my mates son. Extremely solid bloke really. No cameras or nowt when I met him, in fact only one other person. As for my mate, a died in the wool red and whiter, he will never have a word said against him.

There are a lot worse than Keegan in the game I'd say and he has had the misfortune to work for a lot of them down the years in his various times at the hotch potch.
 
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