A Kevin Keegan St James tribute brought Newcastle United and Liverpool FC supporters together on Sunday, as both sets of fans marked the passing of the man who shaped the modern identity of the Magpies. The opening weekend of the season became something far more than a football match.
Keegan died at the age of 75 roughly a month before the fixture. That the two clubs most associated with him should meet at St James’ Park on the first weekend of the campaign felt, as these things sometimes do, almost written.
Former Players Join the Kevin Keegan St James Tribute
The occasion drew a number of former players from Keegan’s spell in charge of Newcastle between 1992 and 1997, according to BBC Sport. Their presence gave the tribute a weight that went beyond flags and flowers. These were men who played under him, who felt the full force of his belief, and who turned up to say so in person.
John Beresford, one of those players, captured it well in an interview with the Chronicle in 2021. ‘The first thing Kevin said was, “You’ll sign for me today, we’ll get promoted this year, then within a year we will get into Europe. Oh, and I’ll get you in the England squad too.”‘ Beresford admitted his first reaction was scepticism. ‘I was sat there thinking, “He’s crazy!”‘ But it all came true: promotion, European football, an England call-up. ‘Kevin said to me after my first year: “I told you John and you signed, thanks for believing in me.” So Kevin was one of the greatest people I met in my life. That’s not just as a manager, as a person as well.’
A Career That Defied Convention
Keegan’s connection to Newcastle was built across two separate, explosive spells. The first began in 1982, when he arrived as a decorated world star at a club stuck in Division Two. He scored on his debut. Promotion followed in his second season. Then, on Valentine’s Day 1984, the date of his 33rd birthday, he announced he would retire at the end of the season. His farewell was pure theatre: he departed St James’ by helicopter, lifting off from the pitch itself. As the Chronicle’s John Gibson put it at the time: ‘Hollywood couldn’t have done it better.’
Before that first Newcastle chapter, Keegan had already done things no English player had managed before him. He joined Hamburg from Liverpool in 1977 and spent three years in Germany, winning the Bundesliga, reaching the European Cup final, and winning two Ballon d’Ors. He was a two-time European Footballer of the Year and a European Cup winner before he ever set foot on Tyneside as a player.
His return as manager in the early 1990s produced something different again. The Entertainers. Keegan famously banned the word ‘consolidation’ the moment it was raised. His side stormed back to the top flight and then pushed hard for the Premier League title, playing the kind of attacking football that filled grounds and lit up televisions. His ‘I’d love it’ rant aimed at Alex Ferguson remains one of the most-replayed moments in Premier League history. His magnetic personality also helped bring Alan Shearer to Tyneside for a world record fee.
The end of that era came abruptly. Keegan resigned in January 1997, as dramatically as everything else he did. Yet the affection from Tyneside never cooled. He received a hero’s welcome when he returned to St James’ as Manchester City manager for an FA Cup tie in 2002, and later took City back to the Premier League. He also answered a national call by leaving Fulham to manage England, getting the Three Lions to Euro 2000 before stepping down after a World Cup qualifying defeat to Germany at the old Wembley.
That resignation was handled with the same directness he brought to everything. Per the autobiography of the FA’s David Davies, who held emergency talks with Keegan in the toilets at Wembley (the only place with any privacy), Keegan said: ‘You can’t change my mind. I’m out of here. I’m not up to it. I’m going out to the press to tell them I’m not up to it. I can’t motivate the players. I can’t get the extra bit out of these players that I need.’
A third Newcastle chapter came in 2008 but lasted just eight months after a fallout with Mike Ashley. After that, Keegan stepped away from management, did occasional punditry and personal appearances, and remained largely out of the spotlight. His love for the Magpies and Tyneside never shifted.
Sunday’s Kevin Keegan St James tribute was one last full house in his honour, with the two clubs he served most watching on together. The former players in attendance made sure it was more than a moment of silence. It was a reunion built around one man’s extraordinary pull on everyone who played for him or watched him play.