For all that he was an icon of English football, Kevin Keegan also left his mark north of the Border. Not just as a player and manager who often broke the Tartan Army’s hearts, but as a passionate, open-hearted dreamer who later in life fell so in love with Scotland that he moved there.
Not for him the narrow-minded ill-feeling that continues to divide the two countries, although it would be fair to say he lapped up those sepia-tinted days half a century back when his perm bounced around Wembley, often at the expense of travelling Scots.
Who can forget that goal in 1979 when Keegan, England’s captain no less, collected the ball on the halfway line, exchanged passes with Trevor Brooking and slipped it under goalkeeper George Wood to secure a 3-1 victory and, with it, the British Home Championship?
Or indeed the European Championship playoff in 1999 when, as England manager, he followed a 2-0 win at Hampden with a 1-0 defeat at Wembley. ‘I’ve never been as glad to hear a final whistle in all my life,’ said Keegan who later admitted that he would have resigned had Scotland overturned the deficit.
And yet Keegan, who has died at the age of 75, had nothing against Scotland. If he had, he wouldn’t have agreed to play for Hearts in Alex MacDonald’s testimonial match against Rangers in 1984. His appearance at Tynecastle in the home side’s Skol-sponsored shirt helped to attract a crowd of around 18,000.
Nor would he have been a regular visitor to Scotland during his playing days, enjoying holidays in some of its remotest locations. He would take in the views, the atmosphere and become so enamoured with it that he and his wife decided in 2005, when his football career was all but over, to set up home on the Inverclyde coast.
Kevin Keegan celebrates after scoring one of his most famous goals against Scotland in 1979
Keegan poses with Alex MacDonald at the latter’s testimonial match against Rangers in 1984
Keegan promotes the Soccer Circus business he launched in Glasgow while living in Scotland
At that time, he told the Largs and Millport Weekly News: ‘I’m living in Inverkip just now with my wife, Jean, and every morning I look at the scenery around the Clyde and think to myself, ‘This is magic’.
‘Ever since the early 1980s I have been coming here, going round the Highlands and Islands, going to Inverlochy Castle, Skibo, St Andrews, and there is always something different in the landscapes and the weather, which sends a shiver up my spine.’
This correspondent was lucky enough to spend some time with Keegan around then. After declaring his retirement from football in 2005, he set up something called Soccer Circus in Braehead and was keen to do an interview on condition that the project was publicised.
Even in those pre-TikTok days, his interactive football centre didn’t seem especially modern and it only lasted a few years, but who cared?
It was the product of everything that was good about Keegan. Yes, he was a little naive at times, but he was a born entertainer, a passionate, pied piper of a man, full of ambition and ideas. And if they didn’t work, he would admit it and move on, as he did when it became clear that the England job was too big for him.
If Keegan wasn’t transcending his sport as a tragic cyclist on Superstars, he was releasing a single – Head Over Heels in Love reached number 10 in the German charts – or unleashing his notorious ‘I would love it’ rant against Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson as his Newcastle team’s title challenge disintegrated. There was no filter, no safety net, and Keegan was all the better for it.
He was honest (often to his own detriment), emotional and he always wore his heart on his sleeve.
He embraced life and football without fear of failure, which is how he ignited the Geordie nation during those mythical spells as a manager and player at St James’ Park.
On Tyneside right now, they are mourning the loss of a legend who was the very soul of their club and their people.
North of the Border, he will be missed too. For Keegan was a football romantic who showed it was possible to love Scotland and love beating them too.
