by Bashmachkin Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:29 pm
Kimbo wrote: 110% wrote: Kevin Keegan's Newcastle also played great football, so who would like him to manage their club?
I wouldn't mind tbh, if Sam left.
If Keegan had stuck around we would've won some stuff, i'm pretty sure on that.
I think Keegan is unreasonably underrated as a manager. Certainly I cant think of a better English manager since the Premier League began. Ultimately, he turned a Newcastle side that had been firmly entrenched in the second tier of English football and was imminently heading for the third into, in my view, the best team in England. Whilst I guess Im biased in this respect, I genuinely think Newcastle were unlucky more than anything in failing to win the title in 95/96 - players like Graham Fenton and Ian Woane played the only outstanding games of their careers against us to turn three points into none in the blink of an eye; we had the Liverpool 4-3; played in one of the most one-sided games Ive ever seen between title challengers at St James' against Man Utd, where we dominated, forced Schmeichel into one of his best games, hit the woodwork several times only to concede with Man Utds only real attack of the game; and we also had the injustice of Ginolas sending off against Arsenal, after which he was never really the same player for us, and, as I genuinely think that in his first six months at the club he was the best player Ive ever seen playing football, this meant we were limited for the rest of the season.
He only left the club because he didnt like the direction things were moving in at boardroom level. Then he managed to get Fulham and Man City promoted, City, I think, after scoring a record number of goals, and he established them in the Premier League. His only real failure was with England. And yet I think he failed with England because he simply wasnt suited to international management. His style was all about working with players on a day-to-day basis, on building a relationship with his squad, making players believe in themselves, making them enjoy playing football, and building creative, attacking teams. He was certainly a motivator rather than a tactician, but coaches that excel in both are very rare, and his tactical naivety has been overplayed when its been far from the real issue.
I think Keegans only big flaw is that he listens too much to what other people say, gets too emotional and self-critical. I think by the time he came to manage City, and especially in his last year or so with them, he was very susceptible to criticism, had become weary with football and with all the pressure, and actually started to believe that he did have essential tactical failings - which lead to a wavering, to a lack of conviction in his methods and so to a lack of enthusiasm also, and so he lost some of what made him such a good coach. Because of this Im not sure Id take him back today - though if he was revitalised, who knows, and he would certainly put everything into Newcastle if he did manage us again - but still, I think he was an excellent manager and, with a bit of luck, our recent history could have been very different.
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