R.I.P. Kevin Keegan (1951-2026)

More very sad news. Kevin Keegan (left) has passed away from cancer at the age of 75. He made his reputation at Liverpool, and in Germany, but I remember him best as a player and captain of the Newcastle United team that got promotion to the (then) First Division in 1984. At that time I was a student at Cambridge and member of the local branch of the NUFC Supporters’ Club so I got to see him play quite a few times. Keegan retired from playing at the end of that season and bid an emotional farewell from St James’s Park after the final game against Brighton. Kevin Keegan was an attacking midfielder who usually operated in the inside-right position. Very good on the ball and an excellent finisher, he was also surprisingly effective in the air. I say “surprisingly” because he wasn’t a very big man, around 5 foot 8 inches tall. After moving to Hamburg he was named European Footballer of Year for two successive years (1978 and 1979). It was quite unusual in those days for English…