Kevin Keegan

Kevin Keegan
OBE
Keegan with England, c. 1980
Personal information
Full name Joseph Kevin Keegan
Date of birth (1951-02-14) 14 February 1951 (age 73)
Place of birth Armthorpe, Doncaster, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Enfield House YC
1967–1968 Scunthorpe United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1968–1971 Scunthorpe United 124 (18)
1971–1977 Liverpool 230 (68)
1977–1980 Hamburger SV 90 (32)
1980–1982 Southampton 68 (37)
1982–1984 Newcastle United 78 (48)
1985 Blacktown City 2 (1)
Total 592 (204)
International career
1972 England U23 5 (1)
1972–1982 England 63 (21)
Managerial career
1992–1997 Newcastle United
1997–1999 Fulham
1999–2000 England
2001–2005 Manchester City
2008 Newcastle United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joseph Kevin Keegan OBE (born 14 February 1951)[2] is an English former footballer and manager. Nicknamed "King Kev" or "Mighty Mouse",[3][4] Keegan was recognised for his dribbling ability, as well as his finishing and presence in the air, and is regarded as one of the greatest players of his era.[5][6][7]

Keegan began his playing career at Scunthorpe United in 1968, before Bill Shankly signed him for Liverpool. There, he won three First Division titles, the UEFA Cup twice, the FA Cup and, in his final season, the European Cup. During this period, he was a regular member of the England national team, and captained the team on 31 occasions, including at UEFA Euro 1980. He moved to Hamburger SV in the summer of 1977 and was named European Footballer of the Year in both 1978 and 1979.[8] Hamburg won the Bundesliga title in the 1978–79 season and reached the 1980 European Cup final. Keegan left Hamburg and played at Southampton for two seasons, before transferring to Newcastle United in the Second Division in 1982. He helped Newcastle secure promotion in his second season, and retired from playing in 1984. He scored 204 goals in 592 appearances in his club career, adding 21 goals in 63 caps for the England national team.

Keegan moved into management at Newcastle in 1992, and the team won promotion to the Premier League as First Division champions in his first full season, the following year. Newcastle finished second in the Premier League in the 1995–96 season, despite leading the way for most of the campaign. After managing Fulham for two seasons, he took charge of the England national team in February 1999. However, he resigned in October 2000, following a 1–0 loss against Germany in qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In 2001, he became manager of Manchester City for four years, until he resigned in 2005. Keegan had been out of football for almost three years when he returned to Newcastle for a second spell as manager in January 2008. However, this lasted only eight months, as he resigned in September, following speculation about a dispute with the club's directors.[9] He has the unique distinction of being promoted as champions in his first full season with the three clubs he managed.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference FATS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Kevin Keegan factfile". BBC Sport. 7 October 2000. Retrieved 14 July 2006.
  3. ^ "Toon animated by the return of King Kev". The Guardian. 16 February 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  4. ^ Jeffries, Stuart (25 June 2011). "The Saturday interview: Kevin Keegan". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  5. ^ White, Mark (5 September 2023). "Ranked! The 100 best football players of all time". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  6. ^ Gallagher, Jack (13 May 2019). "The 50 greatest footballers of all time". 90min.
  7. ^ "Kevin Keegan: how Liverpool, Hamburg, Southampton and Newcastle fell Head Over Heels In Love with King Kev". FourFourTwo. 26 December 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Worst Ballon d'Or Winners In Football History, Revealed | Football Stories". 20 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Keegan resigns as Newcastle boss". BBC Sport. 4 September 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2008.