Kevin Keegan dies at 75

 Kevin Keegan dies at 75.

A couple of hours following the death of Kevin Keegan you were reminded of the fact that only 48 hours after the death of Sir Garfield Sobers, sport could only reflect on the mortality of another one of its most exemplary ambassadors. Over the weekend, Sir Garfield Sobers had made his own dignified exit from the world. And once again we mourn the loss of one of football's greatest and most fiercely committed of characters, a man so modest and gracious in both defeat and victory that it was hard to remember a time when Keegan was at fault for anything. 

Admittedly, Keegan did have his moments and they were memorable. In the 1974 Charity Shield between Leeds United and Liverpool, an admittedly fractious and bad tempered curtain raiser to the old First Division, Keegan, in a fit of pique and raging with injustice, got himself involved in a childish skirmish with the fiery and combustible Leeds United captain and talisman Billy Bremner. It was the most pathetic of punch ups particularly after it transpired that Johnny Giles was also losing his rag as well. 

But none could deny the magnitude of Keegan's contribution to both the game in Britain and his dynamic influence on the game both at club level and international level for England. Keegan was a fireball of energy, wit and commonsense, tireless and powerful, indefatigable and always heavily involved in all of the game's most contrasting nuances and pivotal turning points. And there was something about Keegan that had to be admired for all the right reasons because the former Scunthorpe, Liverpool, Southampton and Newcastle striker, always seemed to give his all, blood, sweat and tears ingrained in his DNA.

From the moment he achieved first team status at Scunthorpe, Keegan was destined for the big time. He was an all action, fiercely competitive, admirably conscientious busybody, darting into acres of space at Anfield for Liverpool, hunting and foraging for goals consistently and something of a demanding perfectionist. There was something of the whirling dervish about Keegan, an irresistible force of nature, scurrying and scampering all over the pitch rather like a first year kid at secondary school desperate to impress his PE teachers. Keegan was here, there and everywhere, ubiquitous, always available for the ball. 

On a more personal level, you've nothing but fond recollections of childhood memories of the Doncaster born Keegan. It must have been an early primary school moment during, presumably, the summer holidays. Your late and wonderful mum used to have on subscription, the weekly listings magazine TV Times which was promptly picked up every Wednesday morning. Now, for whatever reason, there must have been some dormant artistic desire hitherto deeply hidden away. 

So setting up pad and paper on the dining room table, you strategically cherry picked a red pencil out of a pack of brightly coloured pencils. And then you embarked on your very first tentative attempt at modern art. Shortly and meticulously you would carefully scribble away, enthusiastically drawing an action photo of Kevin Keegan in his Liverpool pomp.  Every contour and feature from the flowing Keegan hair to the red Liverpool shirt to those equally as natty shorts would be keenly copied and, even in hindsight, it almost felt like an authentic reproduction of England's most hard working striker. 

During the 1970s once again, Keegan became the pin up poster boy for an excellent teenage football magazine called Shoot. Kevin Keegan, the chief football columnist for the magazine would be prominently displayed in Shoot for quite some time. Then Keegan became the face of after shave lotion bottles accompanied by the unmistakable boxing maestro Henry Cooper. You simply splashed it on. 

But it was with Liverpool that Keegan would become the central figure of idolatry. Keegan scored on his debut for Liverpool against Nottingham Forest and there would follow phenomenal success with the Anfield club. There were successive and yet more old First Division championships before the first of many European conquests including the one against Borussia Monchengladbach on a joyous evening in 1977 when Liverpool lifted the old European Cup. 

The sight of Keegan bundling and brushing his way past Munchengladbach's brave and formidable Bertie Vogts is enshrined in football folklore. Keegan, in tandem with the inspirational Ian Callaghan, the balletic Steve Heighway on the wing and Terry Mcdermott scheming and beavering away in midfield, conspired to beat their German adversaries.

It was the night Tommy Smith, a man who just loved a good, old fashioned scrap, rose like the proverbial salmon to head home the opening goal for Liverpool from a Heighway corner while Mcdermott and Phil Neal from the penalty spot furnished a perfect night for Liverpool. But Keegan had made his statement and it was loud and clear. Keegan's international career for England would be his crowning glory. 

Keegan's footballing chemistry and almost harmonious relationship with West Ham midfield player Trevor Brooking would illuminate most of England's better and more prosperous displays. In the 1979 Home International against Scotland, Keegan and Brooking indulged in the most delightful one two inside the Scottish penalty area and Keegan swept home a picture postcard goal. Sadly, such moments were both sporadic and isolated at times but when it happened, you sighed with pleasure.

Then three years later, Keegan, once again, joining forces with Brooking, came on as too late substitutes in England's World Cup group match against Spain in the 1982 World Cup Finals. Brooking narrowly missed and Keegan was even closer to scoring with a header that only narrowly crept past the far post. But England, as has now become increasingly obvious in England's latest World Cup near miss in World Cup 2026, were simply not up to the task and just not good enough.

In 1979, Keegan, with the heaviest heart, left Liverpool for SV Hamburg in Germany. Now an afro haired Keegan enchanted the Germans who were spoilt by Keegan's naturally extrovert, gung ho personality. Keegan scored  a conveyor belt of goals that multiplied then proliferated with every game. Soon Keegan's name would be chanted in almost musical homage. But although Hamburg reached the 1980 European Cup Final, Keegan was stopped in his tracks, thwarted and deprived of another European Cup winners medal by Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. 

But it was Keegan's Newcastle United years that enriched the Tyneside landscape with his hustle and bustle, surging pace and electrifying acceleration on the shoulder of his last defender that broke so many opponents hearts. Keegan, the player at Newcastle, was at his stunning best, scoring goals for fun as Newcastle were first promoted from the old Second Division to the First and then, much later, in a magnificently bejewelled managerial expedition that led to more trophies. 

And yet it was another tetchy, niggly and irascible outburst that blotted the Keegan copybook. During a remarkable season in the mid 1990s, Keegan's Newcastle suddenly collided with Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in the most incredible Premier League title race. Seemingly racing away with the Premier League and 12 points ahead of Ferguson's United at one point, Newcastle had a rush of blood to the head. By the penultimate game of the season, that apparently insurmountable points margin was whittled away and now Ferguson was psychologically in Keegan's head. 

In the most astounding TV interview with Keegan, Newcastle were about to throw away that considerable points advantage. Wearing those now celebrated headphones, Keegan's face became twisted with the most contorted angry scowl. Once again, Keegan seemed to go off the deep end under the unlikeliest of provocation and was determined to play Ferguson at his own game. He promised that he would do everything in his powers to rub Sir Alex's nose in it.

Nothing would have pleased Keegan more if United had to go to their last game of the season against Middlesbrough, knowing that United had to win it to wrap up the Premier League title. United, though did and Keegan was still erupting long after the game. The fall out to that melodramatic end to that season can still be felt all of these years later. But this was typical of the Keegan temperament, all Latin explosions when the mood took him.

When Keegan walked out on the England manager's job almost on impulse after the old Wembley's last ever match against Germany, it felt like the beginning of the end for Mighty Mouse. The Germans had already won and Keegan felt he could do no more to lift the profile of the national side. But the legacy had now been left in stone. Everybody loved Kevin Keegan even when he was falling off his bike at the BBC's Superstars TV show. Keegan was fearless, indestructible, hair dancing in perfect unison with his gold embossed feet. It had been the most magical of lives and of course we'll miss him.