Keegan bitter about England manager’s job

Posted on May 13th, 2011 | 53 Comments |

Kevin Keegan - ex Newcastle and England manager.
Found the England job soulless
Former Newcastle United manager, Kevin Keegan, tells Harry Redknapp to turn down the England job if he’s offered it after the 2012 Euros when Capello is allegedly quitting.

Keegan didn’t have the happiest of times as England manager and it still seems he harbours some bitterness about that period in his career. In fact, he has said that he’d urge tipped Capello successor Harry Redknapp not to bother:

“I didn’t enjoy it. Simple as that. It was not a job I applied for. I was at Fulham and took over part-time. It was probably me getting carried away on an idea.

“If Harry Redknapp phoned me up and asked me what I thought about him taking it, I’d say, ‘Don’t take it unless you want a lot of free time’. I really would.”

Keegan then goes on the bemoan the lack of English talent and how he found the national manager’s job to be a ‘soulless’ one:

“I would go to Highbury and see Aime Jacquet [then manager of France] watching about 15 players of his and I would have one. I wouldn’t mind if I could have gone to see Paris St Germain v Nantes and watched 15 English lads. But it wasn’t like that.

“I found the job soulless. It was hard to fill in the time. I found myself going and training the blind team, the deaf team, working with the ladies’ team.

“It’s very difficult and it saddens me to say it but it’s a better job for a foreigner than an Englishman at the moment.”

Finally, the former Toon supremo expresses his deep distrust of the media and cautions against saying anything ‘off the record’:

“The media are the media. The one who had the easiest ride was Terry Venables, because they were all his friends. I never had one friend in the press. Nobody was getting inside information from me. I don’t have that sort of relationship with any press guy.

“That’s because I don’t trust the press. Some of the guys are OK. But if they ask me something off the record, I won’t tell them anything. There is no such thing as ‘off the record’. If there was, why would they ask?

“I’ve worked with them all. I’ve worked with some of them since they were young lads, so I probably know more about them than they do about me. But trust them? No.

“I don’t need a press man to do me a favour. That’s where I am in the game. It’s annoyed some of them. I know how the press work: they’ve written the story and they just want you to give them the headline.

“When you’re England manager, it’s like being Prime Minister. They are trying to get a certain answer out of you.”

Well I’d certainly agree about the media. They print stories to sell papers and we should always bear in mind that that motivation is often more important to them than things like truth and balance.

My own opinion on the England side isn’t as dire as Keegan’s when it comes to ability. We generally seem to qualify for these competitions fairly well (McLaren’s spell notwithstanding) but then go to pieces in the actual competition finals. We seem to unaccountably change our game for the finals – altering what was a winning pattern in the qualifiers – and our heads never seem to be in the right place.

We may not have the necessary talent to actually win these competitions but we under-perform in comparison to the talent we do have, as evidenced by the so-called ‘golden generation’ at the last World Cup.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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53 Responses

  2. No ya’ couldn’t ‘doubtfire’.
    :)

    But ya’ can smell round corners & you could do an excellent job as a Picasso model.

    If you went up to kk & licked him, he’d taste of olives, vinegar, sour grapes, bitter(pint) & that stuff you put on the end of pens to put you off chowing the end of ’em.
    Bitter!
    :)

  3. I do wish he’d shut up. He was an awesome manager for us in his first spell, but ever since then all he does is moan like a woman. Tiresome.

  6. Ahh, Mighty Mouse, King Kev, Poodle Head, The Donny Hitman, are just some of the names Keegan may have been called during he time in the game.

    Keegan is talking to the press to raise his profile, I’m surprised it wasn’t done at his ‘soccer circus’ to try and raise that profile too. Stupid name for a footy academy. Where would you rather go? The David Beckham Football Academy or Soccer Circus? Hmm..

    Anyway thanks for the 80’s and 90’s Keegan you were a legend as a player and moreso as the first NUFC manager that actually got me thinking we could win something.
    Now leave and never darken our doors again, you have sullied any relationship you ever had with NUFC through your various statements that you would never manage another club, yet somehow ended up at Fulham, Man City and England.
    You should never had come back Ashley was never going to let you be as cavilier with his money as Sir John was.

    Keving Keegan – Fallen Idol.

  8. I remember trevor brooking saying years ago about how the england squad has no talent coming through and that we would struggle to even qualify for comps in the future, he is right, look at the squad in comparison to germany, france etc, full of quality young players while we still insist on gerrard, lampard, barry (all 30+)

    Our best chance was 2002 in korea, that was the golden era

  10. I think we have some good young talent coming up to play for England in the near future , Wilshere ,Rodwell and that lanky long haired greedy b@stard that plays for liverpool being the pick of the bunch .

  11. Best change England has was 1990. Best manager and best team. Unfortunately we couldn’t take penalties could we Waddle?

  13. Shouldn’t the headline just be the first 2 words – except that it wouldn’t be news then. Or is it anyway – nothing to do with the Toon as far as I’m concerned.

  14. Yes 1990, you could go even furthur back too, Wilshere, rodwell, carroll are up and coming talent yes but compare it to say for example germany/france..ozil,khedira,muller,kroosx2,marin,gourguff,benzema,sakho,ben arfa…blah blah

    “I wouldn’t mind if I could have gone to see Paris St Germain v Nantes and watched 15 English lads. But it wasn’t like that.” KK is right on that, and I hope and pray lumpy chops doesnt become england manager, it will not suit him, he will still play lampard etc into his 40’s if he could.

  15. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    May 13, 2011 at 10:26 am

    ….tut tut tut, naughty CLiNT!

    But, what the hell’s up wi Keegan these days? He used to be the eternla optimist but he seems to have done nowt but whinge of late.

  17. C`mon guys, you sound like a pack of baying hounds.
    Leave the guy alone, he did more for this club and the moral of the Geordie Nation than any manager in the history of NUFC.
    How easy we forget !

  19. well it does look like mike ashley succeeded in his blackening of kevin keegan’s name.
    he’s doing it to anyone who’s been associated with the club,and who have left,either through his,or his cronies coercion.it has been done with keegan,n’zogbia,shearer,carroll etc,”steven taylor is despised at this club”i wonder who put that story out there?as far as i can see,it’s ashley and his cronies behind all of this ill will.the sad thing is,a lot of fans seem to be jumping on this foul bandwagon,and running with it.alan shearer’s standing has been damaged with the fans,beresford sacked from his post at the club,numerous other people banned from the stadium for daring to question the great lard a**e himself,mike ashley.can people not see a pattern emerging?anyone who leaves the club,nine times out of ten,it’s under a cloud,then these said people have there character called into question.
    as far as i’m concerned it’s classic divide and rule by ashley,i’ve never seen newcastle fans as divided as they are now,ffs don’t let ashley win,it’s him behind all of this.
    if anyone bothered to listen to kevin’s interview,he was anything but bitter,infact he was totally honest.he was looking back with pride and nostalgia,to the heady days of 96.concerning the england job,i think when kevin had the job,there was a bit of a dearth of talent at the time.in his interview he says,the top players in the prem at that time,were foreign.
    everyones entitled to their opinion,but personally i’ll never forget what kevin done for newcastle,and even the second time around he saved us from relegation,what was his reward,dennis wise put over him.

  20. Fatman has been dividing and ruling since the first “Ashley Out” campaign happened after KK left.

    As the tribunal found, you cannot trust him with the truth yet he and his stooge have been believed by fans over major issues such as the sale of AC and the cleansing of Level 7.

    Maybe its because the vast majority of fans will believe anything the club says regardless of who says it ?

  21. First keegan ,shearer next ,before we know it you will be on jackie milburns back ,Shame on the toon.

  23. Hang on – nobody has blackened his name, nor are we talking about being influenced by whatever the club has or hasn’t said.
    Over the last few weeks, including his “neutral’ commentary on the match the other week, Keegan’s statements have begun to sound bitter and whingey. This has nothing to do with how brilliant he was for us as a player and manager (first time), how he was treated etc. – just a statement of opinion. We, and in particular Keegan himself, should move on.

  24. Likewise, I think Shearer was a brilliant player / leader for this club – but he pissed me off with the chuckling on MOTD about Joey Barton being flattened by Wolves. Or am being “shameful” and “bitter” for daring to say that?

  25. Keegans a fan ,he should have his say ,and every thing he says is true.

  26. No – a lot of what he says is opinion – e.g. about how little money MA will allow Pardew to spend. But until it’s proved to be fact, it can’t be “true”.

  27. magpie6699,does it not strike you as strange,that this keeps happening to anyone who comes into contact with ashley?it’s not just keegan,it’s everyone.
    as for money being spent in the summer,why does anyone think ashley will ever change?he’s been here four year,and every window bar one in the championship,he’s turned a profit,and made the squad weaker.
    even if he does sign a player,it’s nearly always a slight of hand job eg collicini in milner out.it’s a case of dont let the right hand show what the left hand is doing.of course he could prove people wrong,but i can only go off,what i know of him so far,and the way he has conducted himself.

  28. Tim krul is in Holland’s squad for their up coming friendly’s against Brazil and Uraguay

  29. Spot on Trojan

    I expect Ashley to spend only a fraction, if any of the Carroll sale. It’s a shame but history speaks for itself. The FCC will never change. The players leaving will outweigh the incomers in the Summer.

  30. Hoolie – is that a sustainable policy? What would be the point of continuing with that? Dont tell me, to line his pockets.ffs :evil:
    so we’re back to the asset stripping and running the club down to sell it off at a bargain price yet still make a profit, bullcrap.
    Thankfully come 31st Aug people like you can finally get over yourselves with your negative doom and gloom conspiracy theoris and fully get behind the club and give some support for a change.
    When will you accept that financially this club was f*cked and drastic measures had to be taken to sort it out. Especially after all the cock-ups of the “board” which I dont deny.
    The club has just about turned things around and is back on the up, so WHY would Ashley want to stop any further improvement? WHY?
    As a business man it is far more favourable for Ashley to have NUFC as a successful club than a failure.
    Is that not simple common sense?
    OK for sure we will all find out at the end of this summer, but personally I prefer to KEEP THE FAITH and hope for better times ahead.
    Rant over, tin hat on.

  31. I’ve not always agreed with KK’s style of commenting, sometimes he should probably zip it but he always says it how he finds it. When he talks about Ashley, I beleive that he is just confirming what most of us fans think anyway – not only Geordies either. Talk to any other fan from any successful club and they’ll say that we’ll never dee owt all the time Ashley’s here.
    I respect the fact that he has turned the financial side of the club around but that came at the expense of the team and some fking car crash managers.
    It’s hardly a suprise that people have very little faith in Ashley. He was to blame for relegation, just like the government is to blame for the state of the economy.
    To grow any business, you have to make cuts where they are needed and invest in the right way. What makes you think he’s going to start investing now, eh?
    If he doesn’t start hoying proper money in the pot, we’ll be staring the championship in the face yet again.
    But he won’t. I know that, you know that, Keegan knows that and every other bugger knows that too.

  32. Beardsleys Boots says:
    May 13, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    “As a business man it is far more favourable for Ashley to have NUFC as a successful club than a failure.”

    Do you think that Ashley’s decisionmaking, including his managerial appointments, have helped Newcastle to become a successful club BB?

  33. Ok I hear what you say, so what’s your definition of “proper money”.
    Because I tell you it doesn’t matter how much he spends it’ll never be enough for some.
    So come on then how much? £25M, £50M, £100M?
    We’ve been here before under the crook Freddy Shepturd, :evil: blowing money willy nilly. Fat lot of good it did us then.

  34. No worky I dont. I believe he has made a series of major cockups and also been badly advised, for which we have paid the price. But my point is that we have turned around and are back on the up, so why wouldn’t he want to continue with that? Surely an incompetant billionaire has the capacity to learn from his mistakes.

  35. Beardsleys Boots says:
    May 13, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    “But my point is that we have turned around and are back on the up, so why wouldn’t he want to continue with that?”

    Sadly, I don’t quite share your optimism at the moment BB, but we’ll find out over the next few seasons.

  36. “Surely an incompetant (sic) billionaire has the capacity to learn from his mistakes”

    Unless he doesnt want to ?

    Did he really go hell for leather to sell the club in the Emirates ? Did he really reduce the price so Barry (the Buffoon) Moat could buy the club ?

    Fatman only does what his money managers (i.e. Him) tell him to do. NUFC will be sold when he can make a profit from it – meanwhile he’ll spend as little as possible, shaving every penny from the budget until he can claw his money back.

    Anyone living in the hope that we’re about to spunk millions on players who can make a difference to this club are probably on medication of some sort.

  37. Fat Fred was spending money he never had man – a lot different. Ashley’s a billionare. I also heard he made over 300 million last year.
    As far as I’m concerned, he can spunk as much or as little as he likes but I’ll tell you something, I bet it will be fk all.

  38. kk blotted his copy book by walking away, not once, not twice, but 3 times. Then proving that that his is his M.O. again & again at other clubs, wake the phuck up from the sepia land of nod & the spotted cloud of the lesser spotted cuckoo.
    Now he’s doing exactly what people are accusing AP of doing, banging his gums at any given opportunity, the only difference being that kk is doing it for money, not press releases & to denigrate NUFC.
    Yea,
    he’s trying to cack-handedly have a go at MA et al, but it just comes back to NUFC. He’s too emotional & can’t keep his trap shut or he needs the money or he’s thick.

    It’s got ball all to do with memory, & if it has, it’s selective.
    Let’s remember the good bits but forget the crap.

    :)

  39. No I dont think he did go hell for leather to sell the club, because I dont think he wants to sell the club yet.
    Yes he made 300 Million + last year and is a billionaire again. Basically he ‘s got the club for nowt and the club owes him another 100+ Million aswell.
    Now he wants to prove that he can run a football club HIS way. Then when we are deemed sucessful enough he will sell us at a much bigger profit. Just like any other part of his businesses.
    When the price is right he will sell, just like the Carroll saga. But he wont be looking to screw the club into the ground just for the fun of it.
    I may be a naive thick Geordie, but I do think we will have a better and bigger squad next season, but not one filled with trophy signings, looking for their one last big pay check. And hurray for that at least.

  40. BB,
    damn right bud, here here.

    Even a billionaire ain’t gonna spunk a £300m football club for kicks, that’s just a ludicrous notion.
    Phuck knows what dark recesses people dream this shit up from.
    :)

    I suppose once a conspiracy theory is started though, anything to fit will be employed, no matter how crazy.

    :)

  41. Cheers mate, its like banging your head against a wall sometimes :shock:

    I think it will be a slow, steady, gradual improvement year on year, not like manc ali shitty. They and chelski will have to keep on spunking millions and millions on the latest “top name” just to stay where they are. Its simply not sustainable in the long run.

    I hate Ashley for all the pain and heart-ache he has caused us since his takeover, but I kinda see where he is going with this self sufficiency thing. Whether it works out in the long run, who knows, but I hope so.
    Keep the Faith.
    Toon Toon.

  42. BB,
    aye mate, likewise.

    Whoever owns the club woulda had to do what’s being done financially, sooner or later. Last season was the perfect opportunity to start again, hoy out the deadwood & posers & start to slowly build a future.
    As ffs et al nearly spunked that past, present & future down the swany.

    Anyhoo,
    the ‘new fifa rules’ are coming soon, so we’re getting financially fit just in time.

    Howay the Lads!

  44. the great mike ashley,turning newcastle financially viable,what a load of s**t.every business he has come into contact with,he has cheapened,and spoiled the name of these once great sporting firms,lillywhites,lonsdale for example.he is a cheap cost cutting w***er,and if people want to put up with that,then go for your lives.

  45. Trojan,

    I think you’re being somewhat unfair in your attack of Ashley. My point being that you seem to be missing the point. Everything Ashley has ever done in busniess is be successful, jesus christ you don’t get to be a billionaire by screwing over your businesses and taking them under do you?!

    Yes he has caused a lot of pain and bother over the years he’s been here but what he has done the past 2 seasons is prepare us for what the club MUST be doing anyway in a year or so. He is ahead of the game in that respect.

    I do keep faith that he will see us right, whether its to sell on or stay on I have no clue, but I believe that a successful club is easier to sell on than a sinking ship. I honestly believe too that some of the Caroll money will be given to AP to spend in the summer, how much only time will tell.

  46. bobby @ 45 – trojan’s 100% reet – wide-load is nowt but a cost cutting winker & he missed a trick when he s**t all over – king kev – in favour of the poison dwarf.

    look at what – king kenny – has achieved @ liverpool with a bit backing & less meddling from the owners.

    get out of our club you fat cockney b@stard.

  47. “Everything Ashley has ever done in busniess is be successful, jesus christ you don’t get to be a billionaire by screwing over your businesses and taking them under do you?!”

    HBos shares matey :)

    “Whoever owns the club woulda had to do what’s being done financially, sooner or later”

    and once again you’re wrong CF as normally new owners would wipe the debt from the club and start again.

    The fact SJH hid the financial black hole from him until the cheque was cashed was enough for Fatman to take it out on the club and leave this ever increasing debt pile which he should have cleared away at the very start.

  48. There is no interest on the loans MA has made to the club.
    He’s a phucking billionaire, he ain’t gonna wipe that ‘debt’ off. He didn’t get to be a billionaire by giving it away andy.

  49. he’s still a cheap conman,who pollutes,taints,sullies and cheapens anything he comes into contact with.
    you only have to look at his tacky signs around st james’ park,to realise the mentality of the man.
    upmarket brands like lillywhites,were basically destroyed by ashley’s cheapness.

  50. TROJAN 69 says:
    May 14, 2011 at 11:08 am

    “every business he has come into contact with,he has cheapened,and spoiled the name of these once great sporting firms,lillywhites,lonsdale for example.”

    Or Slazenger, Dunlop, which gave the world pneumatic tyres amongst other things, and Newcastle United, which is quite some achivement considering he took over from the Geordie Satan.

  51. divvent like him worky,i just dont trust him,and he’s given me no reason to so far.of course he could prove me wrong,but he’ll have to pull some decent rabbits out of hats before that happens.

  52. TROJAN 69 says:
    May 14, 2011 at 6:56 pm

    “divvent like him worky,”

    I wasn’t exactly a fan of Fat Freddy either Trojan, but you can kind of take that as read with nearly all of us I think!

  53. Keegan gave us what we wanted. For that I will be eternally grateful. Since leaving us the first time around he’s done nothing but prove what a pathetic, spineless, excuse of a man he is. Happy to blame everyone else but himself for everything. If he truely had a set off balls he would’ve stayed around longer the first time around. Much as it pains me to say Ferguson has cemented today what a truely great manager is. Keegan increasingly continues to blot his copybook for me, someone who I truely believed to be the messiah as a young teen now seems destined to destroy that reputation with every ill judged, needy, desperate comment to the media. You are a hero Kevin. We aren’t stupid enough to fall for Ashley’s crap. Please refrain from tarnishing your reputation in the future.