I asked a number of Newcastle United fans, contributors to The Mag, for their reaction to the loss of Kevin Keegan. Monday bringing the news of his passing.
I asked The Mag writers for their tributes to Kevin Keegan, three words that describe KK best, stand out memory, whatever they wanted to say. Too much to put into one article I have split the responses into two, the first compilation of tributes were published this morning, here we have some more.
Wor Lass
My three words to sum up Kevin Keegan:
Genuinely Nice Bloke.
The stand out moment I remember:
There are so many but one stands out because it sums up his whole approach to life and it involves my second team. Grimsby Town had just ended Newcastle’s winning streak at the beginning of the 1992/93 season in the Football League First Division. The Toon were going for their 12th straight win but went down, at home, 1 – 0 thanks to a Jim Dobbin screamer.
In the post-match press conference, Kevin was asked for his reaction and responded with typical candour . He praised Grimsby’s approach to the game and commented that, “Alan Buckley’s boys outfootballed us.” No hiding, no bitterness, no blame – just sheer honesty.
That was King Kev throughout all of his life.
I never had the good fortune to meet him myself but I knew two people who knew him quite well at different stages of his career.
My brother became briefly pally with him in 1970/71 while he was still a Scunthorpe United player. He used to go over to Grimsby on a Sunday to join in a kick-about in one of the parks with some of the Grimsby Town players and their mates.
When he was quizzed about how he’d handle the step up from Scunthorpe to Liverpool he had it all figured out in his head. He said, “I’ll just do what I do at Scunny- only quicker!”
If you think about it, that was KK’s whole game. Not that he didn’t have skill and finesse but, mainly, he did the simple thing quickly.
Somewhere in the mid 1980s I was in a conversation with Stevie Baker not long after he left Southampton. He was asked whether Kevin Keegan was the nice bloke that he appeared to be from afar and he was unequivocal in his praise for the man. He said that “what you see is what you get.” Anybody at any level at the club could approach him and ask for advice or technical help and he would be there. Nothing was too much trouble.
So, to paraphrase the late, great Phil Ochs, “that was the player and that was the man.” Three words weren’t enough really. How about:
Simple (as in uncomplicated!) / Direct / Open / Honest / Giving / Leader / Legend.
Get that statue commissioned!
Jinky Jim
My three words to sum up Kevin Keegan:
The main man.
The stand out moment I remember:
Newcastle 7 Leicester 1. We are heading back to the big time and we knew we are going to be a big club again. The hope, happiness and optimism in the city that day was in my opinion not matched again until the victory parade last year.
I didn’t really know Jackie Milburn as he was before my time. So I didn’t really get the call for a stand to be named after him when he died.
Therefore I guess that if you are under 40, you might feel similar about Kevin Keegan.
He isn’t the best player ever seen in a Newcastle shirt, far from it.
He isn’t the most successful manager we have had, far from it.
But make no mistake, he is the most important figure at St James’ Park, not once but twice.
Without Kevin Keegan we would have missed the Premier League explosion in the 90s and could easily have become an irrelevant lower tier club.
Keegan gave us hope, pride, belief and more importantly, a bloody amazing football team.
I loved the man.
© 1992 The Mag. All rights reserved.
Billy Miller
Kevin Keegan is a massive part of why I support Newcastle United.
I started watching football during Euro 96 and fell in love with Alan Shearer. That summer the draw of playing for the club he supported and his childhood hero brought Shearer home and I decided that Newcastle United was the team for me. Had it not been for King Kev, Big Al may not have signed. Unfortunately, I only was able to enjoy a few months of Keegan as manager (the first time) but I had So Close on video and must have watched that 95/96 season review more than ten times. Keegan encapsulated everything about Newcastle United. The emotion, the passion, the fight, the entertainment. It’s such a shame he didn’t have another couple of seasons in him. With the team he’d built, I believe he would have won something.
I got to see Kevin live in Whitley Bay last year as he did one of those Evening With… talks. He was still so full of life and spirit. He told captivating and hilarious stories and hadn’t lost any of his charm.
He said at that event that he would return to St James’ Park in the future and that the only thing holding him back was that he didn’t want to be a distraction. If he turned up and we lost, he would have considered his appearance the reason. Well, he could have certainly turned up last season and not had to worry about that considering many of the results.
It is gutting that he didn’t get to come one last time and experience the send off he deserved. But the truth is, he knew how much he was adored by us fans and he didn’t actually need any final display of love to prove it, as much as we’d have wanted to provide it. He’ll get a magnificent carnival of adulation at the first game of the new season and it’s fitting that we’re playing the team he was most successful with as a player.
My three words to sum up Kevin Keegan:
Loyal, passionate, humble
The stand out moment I remember:
As I say, I was young and missed most of his first spell. I was around for the 5-0 against Man Utd and that one is the first match that really resonates with me. His return and him sitting in the stands as we thumped Stoke in the FA Cup third round replay, the day he was appointed was memorable.
For me though, the game I’ll most personally associate with Keegan will be this season’s 4-3 over Leeds. I was lucky enough to be at that game. One of only three tickets I got last season. From hearing the news earlier in the day, to the choruses of his name sang throughout and the dramatic Keeganesque comeback and scoreline to top it off. It was a fitting tribute and a glorious day.
Russell Stevenson
I had started to get a bit sick of it all. A rubbish season for the Toon, Gordon and Sandro ditching us, Bruno seemingly agitating for a move away. Apparently not able to sign anyone of note instead of endless academy prospects. Being told constantly to prepare for a difficult few years. I wasn’t seeking a divorce from NUFC, but the love was waning, the romance fading.
My hero Kevin Keegan died today. My Sky News app notified me, and I got a horrible flutter in my stomach, a mix of butterflies and sick feeling. We all get older, and it’s all inevitable, but more and more at my age, my people, either personal acquaintances or famous folks are passing away. I was ok though, until I saw a random Sky Sports tribute to KK, specifically talking about how Newcastle was his spiritual home, playing clips of his glory days playing in black and white, then saving us again as our talismanic leader. What really did it, was Sky chose to play Local Hero in the background. I teared up. My wife gently took the Mick but I was too sad to play along.
Watching the old footage, experiencing the memories that come with it, lifelong, me as a kid with my Dad, right up until me as Dad with my own kids. The Toon are a timeline to life, one of the only constants in my life, as I’m sure they are to many others. I have no choice. I love Newcastle. I love Newcastle United. I love Kevin Keegan. RIP.
© 1997 The Mag. All rights reserved.
Rob the exiled Geordie
My three words to sum up Kevin Keegan: One of us.
The stand out moment I remember:
Difficult to pick one Kevin Keegan special moment but perhaps the one that best shows his strength of character is when he came out to speak to the fans on the steps of St James’ Park after the sale of Andy Cole, a great example of how he took responsibility for his actions and stood up for his decisions.
It was very sad to hear of Kevin Keegan passing. Although from Scunthorpe. he became an adopted Geordie who understood what it all meant more than most, plus of course the fact his dad was a Newcastle United fan and a born and bred Geordie will have done no harm.
Thanks for the memories Wor Kev r.i.p.
David Punton
Our hearts are broken.
The loss of Kevin Keegan hits us hard, because we loved him. He was one of us. A football man, through and through.
As a player and then as the manager, he changed the course of Newcastle United’s history.
In the 1990s he led a football revolution. The Entertainers era. He gave us hope. A fresh start. He gave us some of the best attacking football we’ve ever seen.
I was just 16 when he took over as United boss. The buzz around the city will stay with me forever. He’s rightly revered.
He was always there for the fans. The nicest bloke you could ever hope to meet. KK understood the club and what the fans wanted.
He was bang on about Mike Ashley and was proved right when he said that one day we would get our club back. We did.
It’s such news to hear he has gone. We won’t ever forget him.
Thanks for the memories, Kevin. May you rest in peace.
© 2008 The Mag. All rights reserved.
Jamie Smith
My three words to sum up Kevin Keegan:
The Geordie Messiah.
I have already written my immediate thoughts for The Mag regarding this immense loss, which hasn’t got much easier after a day.
I have been thinking about the team he could have built had he been allowed to run the show in 2008 (Modric, Schweinsteiger) but bitterness and recriminations are a poor testimony to Keegan. He was about positivity, energy and a can do attitude.
I’ll reiterate my belief that the very best tribute we could pay him would be to help galvanise Newcastle United into the force of nature he knew it could be. RIP Kevin, I am utterly gutted.