A few words on the Return of The Messiah (or Keegan as Manager again).

We did it... We really went and did it... we signed King Kevin as Manager.

Now say what you will about that, but for me, I have secretly been praying we would and could ever since Sam left, but being realistic, I never thought we'd manage it.

Now that in itself, forms the crux of the first comment I would like to make...

That all this talk of Shearer being the man the fans want is quite honestly, because so few fans ever really thought Kev was a serious possibility. Truth be told, had any of us thought it was possible, I think the Keegan appointment has to rank as before even that of Shearer, nice as that might have been. So let's put to bed any press talk of most fans not even mentioning Keegan. True. But not for one second for the reason they might seek to imply behind it!

So, I now find my own self back where it all started for me too. Because my own role and job with Newcastle united Football Club started around 12 years ago, so Kevin Keegan was the then Manager at the time, and also my 'Gaffer' as every Manager gets called by the players and staff who work for him at the Training Ground (I JUST made working for Kev, at the old Maiden Castle days, before we moved on later to Chester-le-Street Riverside Pavilion).

So this is something of full circle for me too, albeit it in a very different way to things for Kevin.

What is also very relevant to me, is that I had the benefit of Kevin's open and frank opinions on many things, at a Sportsman's Dinner he was Guest Speaker at along with Peter Beardsley just a couple of months ago (scroll further down the posts to see that blog entry and photo). So I have a lot of background perhaps, to working out for myself just WHY Kevin has said yes to this job again now.

In short terms (as that was the LONG preamble to it) however, just like 99.999999% of Geordieland, I am over the moon at his re-appointment. And the 0.000001% that wasn't over the Moon, my friend and passionate opinion-bearing fan Mhairi, has, I feel, even come round to the idea herself during the course of last night's match.

So, if I may, abusing the position of this being MY blog, I would like to indicate some FACTUAL statements in relation to King Kev, that might make the doubters, the media, or the rival fans, pause for thought and reflection....

• "Keegan lacks actual TACTICAL experience". Does he? Dalglish had it by the bag load. As did Souness supposedly, and Allardyce was certainly meant to have LOADS of it. Add to that what Gullit had achieved as a player (pretty much won everything that could ever be won, several times). Yet that got none of them anywhere, but Keegan guided Newcastle from nowhere, to 2nd in the Premiership. Maybe not a factual statement, but certainly something to think about in terms of dispelling ANY negative comments about his lack of Tactical Experience.
• "He's Tactically Naive". Mmm, I see. How tactically naive can you be by finishing 2nd in the League, as mentioned previously. Call it luck, circumstance, call it what you will. Even say "Yes but you should have finished FIRST, and you threw it away". Call it as you will. But I ask you again, how tactically naive can you be, if you finish SECOND in the Premier League (and after not long winning promotion to it at that). Well - an honest question NOT a hypothetical one.
• "Cavalier or attacking Football won't work like it did then in THIS day and age". Will it not? I'm not so sure, in that the age old rule, 'as long as you score more goals than the other team you'll be ok', still rings just as true now as it did then. But in any event, it's reassuring to TELL you nevertheless then, that we only conceded TWO single goals more than the CHAMPIONS, Manchester United, in 1996. So "Cavalier" is what we might have been called, but a little known or remembered fact is that we actually conceded very few goals in 1996 too.
• "Keegan's a Quitter - it's been proved THREE times." Not sure I can argue this one I suppose. But my real view is that it's more a case of him being the man we know who wears his heart on his sleeve too much, rather than a quitter. Why do I say something so clearly protective and biased (as it surely seems, but is not). Because of this: When Keegan did 'quit' St. James Park, he did so when we were sitting FOURTH in the league, in January, with a lot less than half the season to go. Now between you and me (and the entire Geordie nation) I hope Keegan doesn't feel the need to quit this time round either. But if he does go in the future, but leaving us FOURTH in the league, during January, there's not many of us likely to complain about WHERE he will be leaving us is there? Translated: He didn't 'quit' Newcastle when the chips were down, and it got too much for him, and we were doing dire. He left us FOURTH in the League at January, and went because of all the plc disclosure issues and uncertainty at the time, that meant it was a yeah or nay decision time for him forced upon him. So he's not an out and out quitter, as some say. He's a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve, and when he did leave, he left us in a wonderful position nevertheless - let's not forget that!
• After taking Newcastle to the Championship title, and then 2nd in Premiership, his next managerial job saw him guide Fulham to the then Division 2 title in 1999.
• He took over the England job from Hoddle and guided England to Euro 2000 qualification - more than Maclaren did, but admittedly, that point doesn't say too much, as Maclaren was naff!
• When he took over at Man. City, he again took that club straight to the Premiership.
• In so doing he amassed 99 points, and they scored a whopping 108 goals!
• When he left Man. City/quitted, whichever you elect to use, he did so again with them solid as a team, and in mid table in the Premiership. Again he did not walk because of relegation or other such events getting too much for him.
• He's passionate about the club. GENUINELY so and we all know it. That might not win you a single extra goal all season perhaps, or a single extra point. But it is HUGELY important to the fans, to know that the manager is not there for the money, and KNOWS what this club is about (the problems with it, even more so than the plus points). Kevin has all of those attributes.
• "He's been totally out of the game for way too long now and even said so himself". Mmmm. Well this time round he has been involved in grassrooots football. That's a big improvement from the last time, when he had spent SEVEN YEARS on a GOLF COURSE in Spain, and yet came straight in to the Newcastle job, won us promotion, and then took us to second place in the Premiership. No sorry, that point cuts exactly ZERO with me folks. He lives and breathes football, even if he tries to tell you any different. If he can be out for SEVEN YEARS playing golf, and walk in and achieve what he did last time nevertheless, then this comment is just a waste of time, forget even trying to use it!

Nah, Keegan coming back now is none of the bad things that many people are trying to say.

Ultimately, only time will indeed tell. But I WILL say this too though, against another false comment the media are running with.

Shearer was indeed the name the fans were yelling (but explained by my comment right at the top). Yet the media is saying Mr Ashley and Mr Mort went for the EASY option, the FANS option, the naive option.

No, they did not, they didn't go for the fans choice, as that person was deemed too inexperienced just now, by Mr Ashley and Mr Mort. They went for the EXPERIENCED option, and NOT the name the fans were calling. So how the hell can the press dare say it was the easy option, the fans led, unthoughtful option. Doh, I give up sometimes with the press I do.

And my thoughts on why Mr Ashley appointed him?

Again, NOT for what the press are saying, the quick fix, short term, appease the fans solution.

On the contrary, even I admit, football has moved on, and Keegan, perhaps later today will maybe admit himself the challenge this time is even HARDER than the last time around.

No, Mr Ashley has again made another SHREWD BUSINESS based, intelligent, thought out decision. In that not only has he brought in someone that absolutely knows the club, and has real managerial experience... He has ALSO brought in one of only two names in the business, that the fans will give that all important extra time to, to hopefully turn things around.

Unfair as it may seem on other managers or potential candidates, but by very nature of who he is, the fans will afford Keegan far longer, if things are going a bit rough, to turn things round.

In so doing, Mr Ashley has shrewdly bought for the LONG-HAUL, not just the short term, as the press are claiming, in that appointing Kevin has automatically bought him TIME, a commodity in so short supply with the fans these days, and above everything else, what we actually need at Newcastle, truth be told. All the impartial pundits have said it, TIME and CONSISTENCY is what Newcastle have always needed more than anything else, and this has been the one thing so hard to come by because of fans high expectations.

Signing Keegan maybe bought him more of that all important commodity that anyone else.

So make no mistake, it was a BUSINESS decision for the future, NOT the fan based easy fix the press would like you to believe.

Ah well, here's to that very future eh.

I can see it now as soon as the next snows come...

"Walking in a Keegan Wonderland"

Oh how I still love that song!