Kevin Keegan dies aged 75 as family pay tribute to Liverpool and Newcastle icon
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He was the beating heart of Newcastle United for generations of supporters."The son of a Geordie-born miner, he was a pioneer of the modern game, negotiating his own contracts, appearing in TV ads and moving abroad to further his career at the peak of his fame with Liverpool in the 1970s.Keegan won the three League titles, two UEFA Cups, and the FA Cup, moving to Hamburg after winning the European Cup with the all-conquering Merseyside giants in 1977.He was then twice voted European footballer of the year. He had stints in charge of Fulham, and Manchester City, but it was his two spells at Newcastle Utd which defined his managerial career.In the late 90s, he managed a United side nicknamed 'The Entertainers' because of their fearless brand of attacking football.As a player, he was equally fearless, and famous for his Brut adverts with Henry Cooper, pop singles, curly perm, and an episode of the TV show 'Superstars', filmed in Bracknell in 1976, where he fell in a bike ride but got back on again despite being injured.In his 2018 autobiography 'My Life in Football', dedicated to his wife Jean and former Liverpool boss Bill Shankly - 'two people who have given me so much' - he wrote: 'It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that my lifetime achievements consist of, in rough order: the time I crashed off my bike in television's Superstars, my perm, and my top-40 record with Head Over Heels in Love."He met Jean in 1970 while riding the waltzers in Doncaster; he told her that he worked at the steelworks as he thought saying he was a footballer would sound 'too flash'.They married in 1975 after his £35,000 transfer to Liverpool.
From humble beginnings in Yorkshire, he went on to become a sporting hero to millions of football fans.His dad Joe and uncle Frank loved Newcastle Utd and told young Kevin all about their favorite players of yesteryear, Hughie Gallacher and Jackie Milburn.Kevin was born at his aunt's house because it had electricity, making childbirth safer; his dad bought his first football boots after winning a bet on horses.At 15, he and two friends ran 50 miles from Nottingham to Doncaster, which he said prepared him for the physical demands of football.He worked as an office clerk at Pegler Brass Works before a first professional football contract with Scunthorpe Utd as a 17-year-old.Three years later, legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly spotted his undoubted talent, signed him and converted him into a striker.Forming a lethal partnership with Welsh striker John Toshack, Keegan scored 100 goals in 323 games before a British record £500,000 transfer to Hamburg.He was their top scorer with 17 league goals when they claimed the Bundesliga title in 1978-79. In 1996, his side let a 12-point lead slip before he famously said, "I would love it if we beat them", in an emotional live TV outburst during the tense run-in with Alex Ferguson's Manchester United.Keegan said friends had 'love it' as their ringtone and insisted that he was 'comfortable enough in his own skin' to see the funny side.FIFA boss Sepp Blatter sent a fax to commend the Geordies' attacking football after the epic 4-3 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in 1996."The main reason I went to Newcastle was Kevin Keegan," former England midfielder Rob Lee recalled.
"Just his enthusiasm and his vision for where he wanted to take the club," Ferdinand said, "he had me sold after a couple of minutes."Keegan left United in 1997 and took over at Fulham a year later, before being appointed as England boss in February 1999. He left, and later successfully claimed unfair dismissal, after falling out with then club owner Mike Ashley.He told how he secretly returned to St James' Park in disguise for a fan's party.I met him for the last time there for the unveiling of Alan Shearer's statue in 2016.He gave a friendly hello, recognising me from our many encounters on assignments for the Daily Mirror down the years, first as England manager and then at Fulham with 1966 World Cup legend George Cohen.He never refused an autograph request, cracking jokes about his time with Shearer at the club that they both loved with a passion.Keegan had the common touch, and that is why he remained such a hugely popular figure throughout his career, even when his stint as England boss came to an untimely end.He said of his approach: "I buy good players and let them play." His loved ones confirmed his cancer diagnosis.In his life story, the legend of the game told fans: "I want people to dream about their football club."We should all be dreamers at heart."