October 7 - KK Resigns (Again)

THE England job is famously known as the hardest job in the country by football managers. With your every decision scrutinised by the media and every fan in the country, the pressure to win England’s first trophy since 1966 is immense.

Probably not the best job for someone who wears his emotions not only on this sleeve but all over his jumper, and who resigned from managing Newcastle United because he couldn’t stand the pressure.

Still, in 1999 we were not exactly spoilt for choice. Hoddle had just been ousted following some ill-advised comments that came back to haunt him in this life rather than the next, and the FA were adamant that cheeky chappie Terry Venebles was not in the frame.

The someone thought of Keegan. There he was minding his own business, getting Fulham promoted to what was then the First Division.

Obviously KK couldn’t turn down his country and his ill-fated reign began well enough with a 3-1 win over Poland.

The only highlight in an otherwise disastrous Euro 2000 was beating the Germans for the first time in over 30 years. Needless to say, they would have the last laugh when it came to Keegan’s England career though.

KK is famed for his love of attacking football, and all his teams have been moulded in this style. At international level however, he was getting found out regularly by other national bosses who used something called ‘tactics’ to beat his England lion hearts. Keegan thought these were little orange mints and didn’t pay them much heed, preferring to rely on a game of cards, a few beers and an inspiring team talk to get his results.

By the autumn of 2000 the nation was starting to turn on poor old Keegs. A lovely fella with more passion for the game in his little finger than Sven can muster in his whole body, but sadly, that was proving to be not enough.

On this day in 2000 he had his chance to ingratiate himself to the nation as those pesky old Germans were coming to town for a world cup qualifier, which happened to be the last game at Wembley.

Keegan went against all his instincts and picked defender Gareth Southgate in his midfield. It did not pay off and a Ditmar Hamman goal was enough for a Germany win.

Ever one for the dramatic departure (he left Newcastle in a helicopter), KK cracked, and resigned immediately after the match in the toilets at Wembley.

A honest as he was emotional, KK admitted that he just didn’t have what it took to lead England and could see no point in going on.

His departure led to the FA employing a foreign boss for the first time, and Keegan next rocked up at Manchester City where he proved he still had the magic at club level, getting them promoted back into the Premiership by scoring an incredible 124 goals in all competitions.

One of the most likeable men in football, we would like to salute KK for being the last person we can think of who resigned without being pushed, for the simple reason that he thought he was not up to the job. Perhaps the current England manager could do with taking a leaf out of Keegan’s book….

Here is KK enjoying a slightly homoerotic moment with Henry Cooper. Nice.

(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)

 Loading ...