Keegan will never live down that ‘I’d love it..’ comment
THE POWER of words can never be underestimated. Look at Kevin Keegan, a man who has a list the length of his arm of trophies and awards won while playing the beautiful game; you name it, he probably has it tucked away at home.
His career at Liverpool spanned the end of Bill Shankly’s reign and the start of the Bob Paisley years. Under two managerial giants of the game, Keegan picked up leagues, the FA Cup, the UEFA Cup and, in his last season at Anfield, the 1977 European Cup.
Most thought he was crazy to up sticks and head for Hamburg after that season, leaving the best team in England to find pastures new. Of course, Liverpool went on to dominate for more than the next decade but Keegan doesn’t give off the air of a man with regrets.
While in Germany, the Doncaster lad brought the Bundesliga title back to the club for the first time in decades. He also won back-toback European player of the year awards, etching his name deeply into the history of the game in the process.
He played for England 63 times, he captained his country, he came back from Hamburg to have spells with Southampton and Newcastle.
Yet, the first thing most people associate with Kevin Keegan are the words: ‘I would love it if we beat them, love it’.
The vast majority of people reading this far will know that infamous Keegan quote came towards the end of the 1995-’96 season, with his Newcastle side well on the way to blowing a twelve-point lead to
Manchester United in the title race.
It has turned into such an iconic moment in the Premier League era that the common misconception is that the ‘rant’ cost Newcastle the title, and that the United boss Alex Ferguson won the ‘mind games’.
Keegan delves into those misconceptions and others in his new autobiography, ‘My Life in Football’.
The book primarily moves chronologically through his life, missing nothing along the way, starting with his interesting footballing upbringing to his second spell in the Newcastle dug-out.
Daniel Taylor is ghostwriter of this autobiography and, while many would question some of the angles he takes in his award-winning journalistic works, there’s no doubt about his ability to put a quality book together.
The copy editors also deserve a nod, as this is the first publication this reviewer has finished in a long time where no mistakes were detected.
From the start Keegan makes it clear several people had a huge influence over his football career. It turns out one is a football coaching nun, another is Bill Shankly, and it’s doubtful there are two more contrasting footballing influences anywhere on the planet.
But that’s Keegan, who comes across as an honest sort that values the trait in others. He calls out those who went out of their way to be negative influences, and it’s clear that he used those experiences for good, allowing those to shape the manager he wanted to be with Newcastle, Fulham, England and Manchester City.
For the Newcastle fan (there are surely one or two of them around the county), this is certainly a book that requires your attention.
It details the good times under Keegan but delves deep into the problems under Mike Ashley’s ownership. In that sense it gives some indication of the problems Rafa Benitez needs to plough through.
Does this book do enough to entice in the general sports book fan? It’s a grand read, it’s interesting for what it is, an autobiography of a former footballing great. However, it’s not going to be one you’ll remember much about in ten years’ time.
DEAN GOODISON
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