Kevin Keegan’s appointment as England manager in February 1999, represented quite a departure for the FA, a body that usually went for safe options for the role, company men ideally, but failing that, tactically astute coaches such as Keegan’s predecessors Terry Venables and Glenn Hoddle, men whose only risks were calculated.
Whereas, ensconced at Fulham at the time, Keegan never calculated a risk in his life. Instead he faced them head-on, accepting the very real danger of calamity as an inevitable bedfellow to the attacking, vibrant football he so loved to oversee.
As for tactical astuteness, that was never a trait that could be attached to the former Liverpool legend, not even by those who greatly admired his sides.
This gung-ho approach of course was very much in evidence during his time at Newcastle, an exhilarating rollercoaster period that saw them hit heady highs only to fall cruelly short, and memories of this marvellous team by default made him unequivocally the people’s choice to take charge of the national set-up.
His was a managerial appointment accompanied by a good deal of excitement and a large dose of goodwill as all manner of adventures were anticipated.
All of which intensified when England comfortably won their first game under his tenure, courtesy of a Paul Scholes hat-trick, only then something odd and entirely unexpected occurred, and extended right through to the following summer’s Euros, where England failed to live up to their short-priced odds in the sports betting and exited at the group stage.
Untrue to type, Keegan’s England weren’t especially adventurous, nor were they particularly porous at the back. Instead, they were insipid, limited and predictable. Even lifeless on occasion.
Was this because his famed ability to motivate had much less impact when isolated only to international breaks? Possibly. Was this because his famed lack of tactical adroitness was far more exposed at the highest of all levels? Very probably.
All we know for sure is that by the time the Three Lions were readying to begin their World Cup qualifying campaign, with a hosting of Germany, the goodwill that surrounded Keegan’s appointment had long run dry.
The football betting online were putting forward names to replace him and the knives were out, understandably so in the context of his results.
Going into the Germany game - the last ever fixture held at the old Wembley before it was demolished - Keegan’s England had played 17, winning just seven.
And by the time the Germany were done, it was seven from 18, with Dietmar Hamann skidding a free-kick past David Seaman to decide an otherwise drab encounter that had the home side look second class throughout.
Appropriately and justly, a chorus of boos rang out on the final whistle.
It has been said that it was these boos that made Keegan make the instant and irreversible decision to quit and perhaps it was.
Yet it is also worth acknowledging that ten days prior to the game, his mother sadly passed away, a seismic event for anyone to deal with, while on the Thursday before kick-off he had unintentionally relayed erroneous information regarding Steven Gerrard’s fitness to reporters.
Aggrieved by this, they had sought revenge by publishing leaked information about Keegan’s plans to deploy Gareth Southgate in midfield. The manager was both hurt and flabbergasted by this.
A highly-strung individual at the best of times, Keegan went into the fixture therefore emotionally pulled in every direction, and with the media and fans against him, and on seeing his team defeated once again, he stepped in the changing rooms and quit on the spot.
The players were stunned. The Executive Director David Davies was stunned, pulling Keegan into a toilet cubicle and desperately attempting to convince him to reconsider.
Sky television, preparing to grill England’s boss post-match but instead airing his resignation address, were clearly flummoxed.
“He just didn’t enjoy it,” Martin Keown later said, of Kevin Keegan’s time as England’s gaffer, and that gets to the nub of it.
But in hindsight, given his pedigree for producing entertaining, crazy football, what still surprises, is that neither did we.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
