Paul Doyle on Keegan

[tinofbeans 91]

Here we go, then, time to lampoon Kevin Keegan again. Time to repeat that he's a blubby man-child, that from the moment he returned to Newcastle in January he was a tantrum waiting to be thrown. Time to smirk knowingly that this was always going to end in tears. Well, maybe it was, what if his departure, which according to our information has indeed happened though it has not yet been confirmed by the club, wasn't Keegan's fault? What if the cliché isn't true?

 

One of the underlying causes of the frustration that famously led Keegan to jack in the England job while in the Wembley toilets was that the FA had refused to let him hire Arthur Cox as his right-hand man (on the grounds, according to Keegan, that at 60 Cox was too old). At Newcastle he was able to resume his long and fruitful working relationship with Cox – until last month, that is, when Cox stepped down without public explanation. That was perhaps a sign of how grim the environment was, an environment in which Keegan was undermined not by his own emotional frailty but by a perverse structure that enabled celebrated football guru Denis Wise to exert more influence on the team than him.

 

Owner Mike Ashley, who has admitted to not knowing the extent of debt he inherited when he bought the club, and who possibly knows more about the intricacies of Jupiter's magnetosphere than he does about football, lured Keegan back with extravagant dreams. They slowly unraveled, revealing a bleak reality. Word is that the two players Newcastle bought yesterday were not the ones Keegan thought the club would pursue when he very reluctantly agreed to last week's sale of James Milner.

 

Even if Keegan did throw a wobbler during yesterday's board meeting – and there is no indication that he did - would such a reaction not have been justified? What would hurricane hairdryer Sir Alex Ferguson, who once threatened to quit Manchester United if club suits didn't sanction the purchase of Dwight Yorke, have done? What would Rafa Benítez, he of the public strops and regular pops at his employers, have done? Who would Brian Clough have punched? Even newbies like Roy Keane and Mark Hughes, what would they have done? Doesn't nearly every manager have a strategic diva inside them? Keegan may not always have deployed her judiciously, but on this occasion an outing would have been well in order. Hell, even the club's famously faithful fans have become exasperated, as proved by the 5,000 empty seats in their only home game of this season.

 

In addition to sniggers about his sensitivity, the other gibe chucked at Keegan when he took charge eight months ago was that, having been out of serious football for the previous three years (his soccer circus doesn't quite cut it, apparently), he couldn't possibly know how things have moved on; he would, mocked the mockers, be blissfully, idiotically unaware that his juvenile idealism was even less likely to succeed now than before.

 

The notion that he was the man to shore up Newcastle's notoriously feeble defence was openly ridiculed. And yet, shore it up he gradually did, even though arch-pragmatist Sam Allardyce couldn't. He also started to wring decent performances from Geremi, Nicky Butt and, of course, Michael Owen, none of whom he bought but all of whom improved under him. He started to grind out results; he exposed the patronising bilge. His record of six wins in 21 matches is nothing to boast about but those victories, and impressive draws such as this season's opener at Old Trafford, all came after a bad start. There were clear signs, then, that, unlike under Allardyce, Newcastle were getting better. But no, it turns out Ashley is making them worse.

[Tooj 17]

Here we go, then, time to lampoon Kevin Keegan again. Time to repeat that he's a blubby man-child, that from the moment he returned to Newcastle in January he was a tantrum waiting to be thrown. Time to smirk knowingly that this was always going to end in tears. Well, maybe it was, what if his departure, which according to our information has indeed happened though it has not yet been confirmed by the club, wasn't Keegan's fault? What if the cliché isn't true?

 

One of the underlying causes of the frustration that famously led Keegan to jack in the England job while in the Wembley toilets was that the FA had refused to let him hire Arthur Cox as his right-hand man (on the grounds, according to Keegan, that at 60 Cox was too old). At Newcastle he was able to resume his long and fruitful working relationship with Cox – until last month, that is, when Cox stepped down without public explanation. That was perhaps a sign of how grim the environment was, an environment in which Keegan was undermined not by his own emotional frailty but by a perverse structure that enabled celebrated football guru Denis Wise to exert more influence on the team than him.

 

Owner Mike Ashley, who has admitted to not knowing the extent of debt he inherited when he bought the club, and who possibly knows more about the intricacies of Jupiter's magnetosphere than he does about football, lured Keegan back with extravagant dreams. They slowly unraveled, revealing a bleak reality. Word is that the two players Newcastle bought yesterday were not the ones Keegan thought the club would pursue when he very reluctantly agreed to last week's sale of James Milner.

 

Even if Keegan did throw a wobbler during yesterday's board meeting – and there is no indication that he did - would such a reaction not have been justified? What would hurricane hairdryer Sir Alex Ferguson, who once threatened to quit Manchester United if club suits didn't sanction the purchase of Dwight Yorke, have done? What would Rafa Benítez, he of the public strops and regular pops at his employers, have done? Who would Brian Clough have punched? Even newbies like Roy Keane and Mark Hughes, what would they have done? Doesn't nearly every manager have a strategic diva inside them? Keegan may not always have deployed her judiciously, but on this occasion an outing would have been well in order. Hell, even the club's famously faithful fans have become exasperated, as proved by the 5,000 empty seats in their only home game of this season.

 

In addition to sniggers about his sensitivity, the other gibe chucked at Keegan when he took charge eight months ago was that, having been out of serious football for the previous three years (his soccer circus doesn't quite cut it, apparently), he couldn't possibly know how things have moved on; he would, mocked the mockers, be blissfully, idiotically unaware that his juvenile idealism was even less likely to succeed now than before.

 

The notion that he was the man to shore up Newcastle's notoriously feeble defence was openly ridiculed. And yet, shore it up he gradually did, even though arch-pragmatist Sam Allardyce couldn't. He also started to wring decent performances from Geremi, Nicky Butt and, of course, Michael Owen, none of whom he bought but all of whom improved under him. He started to grind out results; he exposed the patronising bilge. His record of six wins in 21 matches is nothing to boast about but those victories, and impressive draws such as this season's opener at Old Trafford, all came after a bad start. There were clear signs, then, that, unlike under Allardyce, Newcastle were getting better. But no, it turns out Ashley is making them worse.

[Deano 0]

Hit.Nail.Head

[Park Life 71]

Well put.

 

Long live the Keegler!

[JonGoodwyn 1]

Who would Brian Clough have punched?

 

 

But good article.

[TheMoog 0]

100% spot on that

[Guest alex]

Just spotted this. Good stuff and nice to see a perspective like this for a change.