Mark Ollerhead

When Kevin Keegan retired from football in 1984, he moved to Spain with his family and disappeared from the game almost completely. He played so much golf that his daughters barely associated him with football at all. “For years my daughters thought I was a professional golfer.” “They didn’t realise I had anything to do with football.” Keegan was happy with that life. “I had no intention to get back into football.” “Until one day, early in 1992, when out of the blue I received a call from the Newcastle chairman Sir John Hall.” Newcastle were next to bottom of the old Second Division, around £6million in debt and in real danger of dropping into the third tier for the first time in their history. Hall did not waste much time trying to sell the job. “The two people who can save Newcastle are talking right now.” “You have got the passion, and I have got the money.” Keegan had spent years saying no to football jobs. This one was different. He had finished his playing career at Newcastle, understood what the club meant to the city and liked the fact that almost everything needed fixing. “I wanted to take a sick club and make it better.” “I wanted to be a football doctor.” When Keegan arrived back at St James’ Park in February 1992, he quickly discovered just how sick the patient was. The first time he went to the training ground at Benwell, Terry McDermott summed it up for him. “S*** hole.” The dressing rooms, gym, baths and showers were filthy. There was no washing machine, so players were taking their own kit home to clean it. The club was also saving money by travelling to away games on the day rather than putting the players in hotels the night before. “The players didn’t feel valued.” Keegan decided that had to change before he even started worrying about tactics. He spent around £6,000 of his own money on the training ground. The place was fumigated, cleaned from top to bottom and repainted over one weekend. Keegan simply wanted the players to walk into work and feel like professional footballers again. “Soon the players began to train and play with a sense of pride again.” Then he actually watched them train. Keegan had been away from football for seven years and barely knew the players in the Second Division. After the first session, he pulled McDermott aside. “Wow, they are not that good.” Keegan later joked that despite both of them being in their forties and having been retired for years, he and McDermott still looked like two of the better players in the five-a-sides. His first deal was only until the end of the season. Sir John Hall had offered him three years, but Keegan did not see the point. If Newcastle went down, he did not want to be tied to a long contract. So he took a basic wage for the final three months, with the money doubled if he kept them up. Newcastle survived. They confirmed it on the final day with victory at Leicester and finished four points clear of the relegation places. Keegan had only been back in football for a few months. He had inherited a club heading towards the third tier, cleaned the training ground with his own money, rebuilt the players’ pride and kept Newcastle alive. Then he made one thing clear. “This club should never put the supporters and the good name of Newcastle United in that position again.” Within a year, Newcastle were promoted to the Premier League as champions. Within four, Keegan had them challenging for the title. #football