On This Day – 5th January
It was on this day 22 years ago that Kevin Keegan walked out of his job at Newcastle United.
United came so close to winning the Premiership in the previous season (there is an article about Newcastle’s 95/96 season in the ‘A Season To Remember’) but had struggled to carry on this form into the new season.
The Toon Army had lost two of their first three games of the season before winning seven games on the bounce. The winning streak went on from the first week of September until late October, the last victory in that run was a 5-0 trouncing of champions Manchester United at St James’s Park.
Sadly their form began to dip and at the turn of the year they were fourth in the League and Keegan felt that it was time to go.
When Keegan joined Newcastle as manager in 1992, things were looking very bleak and there was a real chance that United would get relegated to the old Third Division.
He managed to turn things around an United stayed up. The following season they stormed to the First Division championship after Keegan had rejuvenated the side.
Keegan had managed to make the city of Newcastle love their football again. In their first season in the Premiership, Newcastle finished a very impressive third in the table.
Things were harder in the second season and the Toon Army ended the season in sixth position but the best was yet to come.
With a few shrewd signings after Keegan had persuaded Sir John Hall and Freddy Shepherd to open the chequebook, Newcastle were leading trhe league for the majority of the season.
Sadly they started to lose confidence, dropped points and Manchester United caught them up before overtaking them and winning the league.
Eleven years after resigning at St James’s Park, Keegan returned. However this spell only lasted eight months as he resigned yet again amid speculation of a fall out with the Board of Directors.
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