Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE (born 14 February 1951)[2] is an English former football player and manager. A forward, he played for several clubs including Liverpool and Hamburger SV. He went on to manage Newcastle United, Fulham and Manchester City, winning promotion as champions in his first full season at all three clubs, and also the England national team. As a player in the 1970s and 1980s, he has been described as
"arguably the first superstar English player to attract the modern media
spotlight".[3] He began his playing career at Scunthorpe United in 1968, before moving to Liverpool in 1971. At Liverpool, Keegan won three First Division titles, the UEFA Cup twice, the FA Cup and the European Cup.
He also gained his first England cap in 1972, and moved to West German
club Hamburger SV in the summer of 1977. At Hamburg, he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1978 and 1979, won the Bundesliga title in 1978–79, and reached the European Cup final in 1980. Keegan moved to Southampton that summer, and spent two seasons at the club before a transfer to Newcastle United in the English second division
in 1982. He helped Newcastle to promotion in his second season, and
retired from football in 1984, having been capped 63 times for England,
scoring 21 goals.
He moved into management at Newcastle in 1992, winning promotion as First Division champions. Newcastle then finished second in the Premier League in 1995–96, after leading for most of the season. After a spell at Fulham, he took charge of the England team in February 1999, but resigned in October 2000, following a 1–0 loss against Germany in qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He then became manager of Manchester City in 2001 and spent four years at the club before resigning in 2005. He had been out of football for almost three years when he returned to Newcastle United for a second spell as manager in January 2008. This spell lasted only eight months, however, as Keegan resigned on 4 September 2008 following speculation regarding a dispute with the club's directors.
Keegan's transfer to Hamburg was agreed between the FA Cup final and the European Cup final of 1977, although Keegan had negotiated a maximum transfer fee the season before.[16] On his arrival in Germany, Keegan was the highest paid player in the country, and was built up by the press and club as the "saviour" of Hamburg. He scored in pre-season friendlies against Barcelona and former club Liverpool, but the club suffered defeat in the European Super Cup against the Merseysiders, and Keegan was sent off in a mid-season friendly against VfB Lübeck after knocking out an opposition player with a punch.[17] An unhappy first few months at the club gave way to a more successful season. Although the club finished tenth in the league in 1977–78, Keegan's 12 goals helped him pick up a personal honour, the France Football European Footballer of the Year award for 1978.[17][18]
The 1978–79 season saw a vast improvement on the club's 1978 finish. New manager Branko Zebec imposed a tough training regime, and Keegan's increasing grasp of the German language, coupled with the newly imposed discipline meant that Hamburg finished as league champions for the first time in nineteen years.[17] The club's success also translated into individual recognition for Keegan, who picked up the European Footballer of the Year award for a second consecutive year,[18] as well as the nickname Mighty Mouse from the fans, after the cartoon superhero.[19]
Hamburg's European campaign of 1979–80 saw Keegan score two goals to help Hamburg past Dinamo Tbilisi, Soviet champions who had beaten Liverpool to reach the latter stages. The club lost to Nottingham Forest in the final in Madrid, however, and this was coupled domestically with being beaten to the Bundesliga title by Bayern Munich. Having negotiated a maximum transfer fee of £500,000 in his contract the year before and agreeing a move in February, Keegan left Hamburg for Southampton in the summer of 1980.
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