Kevin Keegan Resigns: A Brief History To Understand Why He Left

The transfer deadline closed last night at midnight, with possibly Newcastle's chances of ever reaching the top four closing too.

The big losers in the amazing sale of Manchester City weren't Liverpool or even Chelsea. No, the big losers were Spurs, Aston Villa, Everton, and Newcastle.

How the managers, chairmen, and supporters of these clubs feel after the revelation that now City are a power to be reckoned with will only be seen in the next few weeks, as the slow realisation dawns on them that not only are the top four positions out of reach, but now the fifth position is gone too.

Kevin Keegan awoke this morning, looked at himself in the mirror, the hair that was once his famous trademark now gray with age. He saw the pronounced lines of age on his face where laughter lines should be, and realised that the club he loves so much had not only taken a step back in their transfers over the summer, but now the land that he dreamed he'd bring to the Geordie hoards was just that, a dream.

Kevin Keegan, once the most optimistic man in football, had been broken, again. But to fully understand why he resigned, we must first understand the man.

Keegan's first professional club was Scunthorpe, he signed his first professional deal at 15 but was quickly dismissed as being too small to play professionally. This only served to make Keegan train even harder, putting in double sessions every day and then training by himself at home.

Keegan eventually broke into the first team at 17 and went on to play over 124 games across three seasons in the old Division 4.

What was remarkable about this feat was Keegan's young age in such a tough league. In English football during the late 60's prisoners weren't taken on the pitch, especially in the lower leagues. The fact that Keegan played 124 times at such a young age in such a tough league marked him out as a player to take notice of.

In 1971 Bill Shankley did just that. Shankley had been monitoring Keegan for some time and, impressed by his work rate and superior fitness, he brought Keegan to Liverpool for a fee of £35,000 (this wouldn't happen today, div 4 to div 1).

Shankley immersed Keegan in all that was Liverpool during his first summer there. Training was done right, eating meals was done right—nothing was left to chance.

So impressed with his new signing from Division 4 was Shankly that he put him straight into the opening game of the new Division 1 season against Nottingham Forest. Keegan duly responded, returning the favour by scoring after 12 minutes of his debut.

Kevin Keegan had reached Division 1 at the age of 20. He had been rejected twice as a teen, and had worked harder, and trained harder than anyone else to achieve his dream.

But instead of being satisfied with Liverpool and playing in Division 1, now Keegan wanted to win the league and to play for England. To achieve this he knew he would have to be fitter, faster, and stronger than his rivals, so Keegan again took extra training to try to fulfill his new dream.

The extra work and playing regularly for Liverpool soon payed off, as Keegan made his debut for England U-23s in the old Home Nation Tournament.

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