February 3 - The Geordie Messiah (Part Two of Three)

HERE at OTFD we are not afraid to admit we do have a few favourites in the world of football which is why we were delighted to hear a couple of weeks back that Mighty Mouse himself was back in the game.

You really would have to be a cold-hearted bastard not to love Kevin Keegan, a man whose passion for the game is matched only by his honesty. Could you ever imagine Steve McLaren admitting that he wasn’t quite up to the job of England manager as Kev did when he resigned in 2000? No, neither can we.

Loved everywhere he went as a player, it was on this day in 1992 that KK made his first foray into management when he arrived in the North East to take charge of Newcastle United, for the first time. Needless to say, hilarity ensued.

After leaving St James’ Park in a helicopter from the centre circle after his last game as a player in 1984 KK spent the next eight years living it up in sunny Spain before he took a call from Sir john Hall who had just gained control of Newcastle.

Keegan claimed it was the only job that could have tempted him back into football while on Sir John’s part it was a massive gamble to appoint a man who not only had no experience whatsoever as a manager, but had been out of the game altogether for the best part of a decade.

KK’s first job was to save the club from being relegated into the third tier of English football for the first time in their history where they were in serious danger of heading under his predecessor Ossie Ardiles. Once this was sorted King Kev set about turning the Magpies into a team of winners who romped to the Division 1 title to get promoted to the Premier League.

His charges proved just as effective in the top tier and the Newcastle team were dubbed The Entertainers for their exciting attacking style that so nearly won them the championship in 1996, which was also when KK had his legendary rant (see it here).

Eventually of course the little man couldn’t handle the pressure and resigned as manager in 1997. Spells at Fulham, with England and at Manchester City followed, before his remarkable comeback at St James’ Park last month.

His return was lauded by the Toon Army as the best thing since Byker Grove but Kev isn’t finding football is quite as he left it as his team has yet to win, or even score a goal. Still, give it time and there’s bound to be fireworks - with KK there always are, a we love it.

Here he is showing Beckham how a top class footballer should conduct an ad campaign - no moody pouting for the K-man!

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