King Kev makes Newcastle return

omgukilledkenny SG

Newcastle have confirmed that Kevin Keegan will make a dramatic return to manage the club.

The 56-year-old former Manchester City boss managed the Magpies from 1992 to 1997 and will return to St James' Park as Sam Allardyce's successor.

Gerard Houllier and Didier Deschamps were strongly linked with the position in the last two days but the club unexpectedly turned to Keegan.

He was initially linked only with a partnership role with Alan Shearer.

The ex-England coach was running his "Soccer Circus" in Glasgow after quitting his job at City in March 2005.

He was also linked with a return to the club last summer as director of football following Mike Ashley's takeover.

Keegan told BBC Sport in October that he was unlikely to manage a team again.

But he returns to Newcastle, having said on Monday: "I'm not ruling myself out or in. It's a club I love, everyone knows that."

Keegan took Newcastle to promotion back to the top flight in 1993 and came close to winning the league title in the 1995-96 season when they led Manchester United by 12 points before finishing as runners up.

He went on to manage Fulham, England and Manchester City but has not managed again since leaving City.

A sign of how highly regarded Keegan is on Tyneside was reflected in a statement on the Newcastle website: "Geordie messiah to be unveiled as new United manager."

Harry Redknapp had been first choice for Ashley and chairman Chris Mort but he last week opted to stay at Portsmouth.

Shearer was also touted as a possible replacement for Allardyce, but the former captain said earlier on Wednesday that Newcastle did not want him as their next manager because he lacks experience.

Shearer said he had yet to speak to Keegan about a possible return to St James' Park, but praised his managerial record during his five-year spell.

"He is highly thought of in Newcastle and rightly so because of what he did for the club," Shearer said.

"Kevin did something special, he's a special person with special charisma."

Father Lim SG

woohoo... they are still going to let in 6 goals...
but at least they may score 7 in the process Mr. Green

dragg SG

he led newcastle to two runners-up isnt it?

why did he leave in the first place?

Poolman SG

The right man for the right job .

Poolman SG

This is the real Kevin Keegan

Take a look at this video .

Poolman SG

Terry Mcdermott has a hand in this return …..

zocoss SG

Because of the pressure and the stress that he felt trying to make Newcastle entertaining as well as successful...

And also losing the premiership after taking a 12-point lead at the top. But losing everything toward the end of the season... Neutral

zocoss SG

'I used to go into games believing the opposition was scared of me. That belief evaporated when I played under Keegan' - Michael Owen in his autobiography

Michael Owen was a national hero after breaking into England's team at the 1998 World Cup under Glenn Hoddle. But he feared the worst when Keegan took over to revive the ailing Euro 2000 campaign. Later, writing in his autobiography, he recalled: "For me, the warning signs were all there on the training pitch.

"I assume the manager had conveyed to his staff what he thought of me, and plainly it wasn't complimentary. "I felt I was being singled out, not just by the manager but the whole coaching staff."

A 3-2 defeat to Romania put England out of Euro 2000. Owen missed the ball completely after 15 seconds. He wrote: "A terrible thought filled my head: 'That's exactly what he wants me to do, because it confirms what he's been saying all week'.

"Guess what? When I caught sight of the manager he was throwing up his arms, shaking his head and gesticulating at the coaches as if to say: 'Did you see that?'. "That, I can assure you, is one of the worst feelings in the world.

"I used to go into games believing that the opposition was scared of me and that nothing could get in my way. "That feeling, that belief, evaporated at times when I played under Keegan. "I don't think Keegan had any sort of personal agenda against me, I just think that as England manager at a major tournament he felt under enormous pressure and he needed something or someone to blame.

"I was an easy target. I wasn't on top of my game."

zocoss SG

KEEGANMANIA swept across Geordieland last night with players and fans uniting to hail the return of their messiah.

Kevin Keegan was back at St James Park as Newcastle manager for the first time since January 1997. Nobody had a bad word to say for the man who became infamous after a television rant in April 1996 about how much he would love to beat Manchester United. Really love it.

Everyones pinching themselves around the North East. The dream has come true. Kevin Keegan has a lot of work to do with the squad and the team but, hopefully, there are exciting times ahead. We hope to get back to where we were the last time he was in charge. He nearly won the league. Everyone remembers the entertaining football we used to play under Kevin. Hopefully, we can do that and get the right results as well.

Its unbelievable, brilliant. Knowing what he has done in the past here, its a real coup for the club. It will lift the gloom thats been around the place and thats just what we needed as players and fans. Kevin Keegan knows what it means to be here. He loves the club and I dont think any other manager could have lifted the place the same way.

Former Newcastle hitman Les Ferdinand narrowly missed out on a title medal during Keegans first reign. He said: Kevin will have come back hungrier than ever and will be demanding success. Im certain he will be doing all he can to make sure Newcastle eventually beat Alex Fergusons Manchester United to the title. His aim will be to land the top prize. He is going back to complete some unfinished business. And that not only means turning over Alex Ferguson, it means turning over everybody else.

Keegans side blew a 12-point lead at the top of the table in 1995-96 to finish runners-up to United. But it really went haywire after he was sucked into mind games by the canny Scot.

In his TV outburst, Keegan reacted to a suggestion by Fergie that teams tried harder against United than against Newcastle.

When you do that with footballers like he said about Leeds; and when you do things like that about a man like Stuart Pearce. I'm I, I, 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, he'll be watching it - we're still fighting for this title, and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something, and... and I'll tell you honestly, I will love it if we beat them - LOVE IT!.

the Bear SG

Kev is a straightforward person who doesn't do politics or mindgames..

he created a totally entertaining, hell-for-leather, all-out attack style football that was both suicidal and breathtaking at the same time...

that Newcastle team was wonderful, and scary to watch...

he was blazing along until Sir Alex Ferguson played his mindgames so much that Kev cracked.. and cracked spectacularly on live radio..

when a manager cracks the rest of the team does too.. and that was what happened to the 12 point lead..

it was sad..

that year, seriously, a better team lost because of the mindgames of Sir Alex..

Kev was never the same again..

zocoss SG

Probably to simplistic i guess... To be a top manager, he should be able to take all the pressure and the stress that comes with the job... Its a well paid job, but its also a demanding one... To crack up so spectacularly on national tv just by a mere few words certainly isn't going to give his players the confidence they need.

They were playing suicidal football as many have said... Under Keegan, they only know how to attack and didn't know how to defend even when they had the lead, they continue to go up and leave their back unguarded... Keegan's philosophy was rather foolish.

Football isn't played on half a season, Aug - Dec... Its played over a full season righ up to May and many have also said that the hardest time would be from Feb to May when the pressure really starts to kick in... Teams at the bottom of the league suddenly start to play as tho their lives depend on it... Wenger, Fergie and Kenny Dalglish are the only ones to have gone through it and came out on top... Even Mourinho didn't and Dalglish more or less could not do it anymore after Blackburn.

I guess the mental stress of trying to keep the chasing pack away from his team's big lead then was the cause of all his problems... a better team wouldn't have lost because of some comment by a challenging team manager... I guess they just wasn't good enough and got caught on the last lap. Smile

the Bear SG

it wasn't just a comment.. it was relentless throughout the season..

simplistic perhaps but it happened.. sometimes we look for big and complex things while missing the obvious...

SAF has tried this with Wenger and also Mourinho.. but these two are made of sterner stuff..

i still remember that season.. and one of the most spectacular games against liverpool Laughing

still, there were a few managerial mistakes made.. like his addition of Faustino Asprilla.. he sort of unbalanced the team a little.. but that's my view Smile

i hope he comes back wiser.. because of that season, i still have a soft spot for them in my heart for a mad team which knew only attack Laughing

Father Lim SG

buy attacking is the best form of defense...
u keep the opponent on the backfoot for most of the game, they dun have time to attack you Mr. Green

zocoss SG

Come on... it wasn't throughout the season... just the last 3 or 4 months at most... There is no point having it at the start... Mr. Green

SAF, Wenger and also Mourinho have used it on each other as well as to others... Mourinho even single out individual players when they are about to play against his team... The fact that Fergie have come out 9 times to Wenger 3 or 4 showed the difference... Mourinho first 2 seasons were simple... He never had to deal with any pressure at all But last season for the first time he found himself in that position since coming over... He also kind of crack up by making strange and silly comments about his bosses and players towards the end... Thats what the pressure and stress can do to them... They lose control and go off the edge alittle, which was enough. But there is no deny that they are mentally stronger than Keegan was 10 yrs ago... and perhaps even now... Smile

Lets just hope Keegan learned something out of it and not show his naive side again... 10 yrs should have made him a lot wiser i think...

the Bear SG

still.. i'm old-school.. football is football.. leave it on the pitch..

which is why sometimes it's a sour taste in my mouth that i see managers playing mindgames and making comments...

calling it "today's game" is like condoning sledging and trash-talking... which is contrary to sportsmanship..

i guess i'm a dying breed huh? Smile

alan- SG

i think this is the only choice. as newcastle will never be able to employ mourihno class of managers, only keegan's appointment will ensure that shearer's ghost will not be around to haunt any appointment after allarydce.

u need a legend to keep another legend at bay. and i think we definitely got the right man. he will be hungrier than the previous time round to achieve something. it will be 3rd time lucky this time.