A pioneer and a superstar, Kevin Keegan’s achievements were extraordinary

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He had a rare gift for inspiring players and almost everyone who interacted with him at his best came away uplifted.Still, Keegan’s meltdown on TV, where he took issue with Ferguson’s supposed “mind games” in suggesting Leeds players would go easy on Newcastle during a tight title run-in with Manchester United, became a defining moment. He also quadrupled his salary, reflecting the economic state of English football at the time.Kevin Keegan with the ball at his feet for Hamburg in the 1977-78 Bundesliga season.

His father’s links to the north-east and reverence for Newcastle players such as Jackie Milburn were an emotional pull on Keegan, but one that cost him his England career. He felt “betrayed, hurt and humiliated”.Crowds doubled at St James Park’s with Keegan’s arrival and Newcastle were promoted as champions in Keegan’s second season, 1983-84, by which point he had already decided to quit playing at the age of 33.

Typically impulsive, it was when Mark Lawrenson outsprinted Keegan to dispossess him during an FA Cup tie at Liverpool that he decided he was past it decided would finish his career at the end of the season.Kevin Keegan in action for England in May 1979. After that draining but exhilarating evening Keegan’s associates reported that he was in high spirits, energised by the reconnection with the fans who loved him most.It was to prove Keegan’s final goodbye.