SerpApi.Org
Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed his fierce managerial rival who built Newcastle’s “best-ever team” amid an ongoing outpouring of affection for Kevin Keegan.
Ferguson, who was on the other end of Keegan’s “I’d love it” rant, revealed his huge respect for Newcastle’s former manager following his death at the age of 75.
Speaking to Track Radio, Ferguson said: “I had the utmost respect for him. We had many duels when he was manager of Newcastle, but I have to say the job he did at Newcastle was fantastic.
“He re-energised that club and he brought that enthusiasm and fanaticism that great supporters can give. That’s the job he did.
“And he also brought three great players to the club – [David] Ginola, [Faustino] Asprilla, Philippe Albert – and added a bit of class to the team, and I must say the challenges we had with Newcastle at that time at United were huge.
“Kevin carried the love of the game on his sleeve, there’s no question about that, and that carried right on to the fans, to the players.
“That period at Newcastle was of emotion, it was excitement. They brought these great players to the club too and they added to it, and it gave Newcastle – I think – their best-ever team.”
That emotion memorably boiled over in April 1996 when, with Ferguson’s United chasing down Keegan’s Premier League leaders Newcastle (they would ultimately snatch the title from their grasp), the former England striker made an emotional outburst during a Sky Sports interview.
However, Ferguson revealed the pair bumped into each other at a pub close to Wentworth Golf Club a few weeks after the season had ended and spent the night around a piano with all thoughts of football rivalry shelved.
Ferguson said: “The great thing about him, he held no grudges. That was a fantastic quality he had and we had a great night.
“All aside, whatever happened in previous weeks, that was soon forgotten. I really respected him for that.”
Keegan-Ferguson rivalry took Premier League up a level
Eric Cantona’s kung-fu kick. Leicester City winning the title. “Agueroooo”. There are some moments in Premier League history that stand out above all others.
Think about any of these moments and they immediately conjure images that are seared into the public consciousness.
The look of astonishment on the faces of those at Selhurst Park as an airborne Cantona, decked in all black, vaults over a perimeter board to plant his right boot into Matthew Simmons’s midriff.
Sergio Agüero ripping off his shirt and swinging it around to Martin Tyler’s unforgettable commentary after winning the title for Manchester City in stoppage time to deny, of all people, the club in whose shadow they miserably sat for so long.
Leicester overcoming 5,000-1 odds to be crowned champions, forcing Gary Lineker to honour a bet to host Match of the Day in his underwear.
Kevin Keegan’s “love it” rant at the denouement of the 1995-96 title race belongs firmly in that category.
The moment is 30 years old, but the imagery remains as vivid and arresting as ever, unforgettable to anyone who witnessed it at the time, a source of enduring fascination for generations since: those old, chunky headphones, white collar against a black top, finger jabbing, the words spilling out in an unstoppable torrent of raw emotion and righteous indignation.
There would be other tirades in the years that followed: Rafael Benítez’s “Facts” rant, Nigel Pearson’s tense “You’re an ostrich” exchange with a journalist, Joe Kinnear’s expletive-strewn unveiling as Newcastle manager, José Mourinho’s “heritage” sermon, and so on.
None can match the original, though, for pure, unfiltered TV gold as Keegan, then in charge of Newcastle United, became the most famous victim of Sir Alex Ferguson’s uncompromising psychological jousting. No one took the then Manchester United manager’s bait quite like it before or after.
There are generations who do not remember Keegan the footballer – as great as he was – yet who, by Kevin’s own admission, know him for those 90 seconds or so of footage on Sky Sports on April 29, 1996 they had probably accessed via YouTube. That, or perhaps falling off a bike.
But it is the story behind the outburst after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Leeds, and Keegan’s reaction to it in the years that followed, that offered an instructive window into the man himself: fiercely passionate, honest, genuine and decent, one who wore his heart on his sleeve, who shared his soul and had no intention of compromising on deeply held principles.
There is a line in his 2018 autobiography, lovingly crafted by Daniel Taylor, the journalist and author, where Keegan writes: “What it proved to me was that Alex would do anything to win, whereas the same could not be said of me. There was a line I would not cross.
“In his world it was an anything-goes mentality, and it didn’t seem to bother him if outsiders disliked those tactics. It was maybe why he won so much as a manager, including 13 Premier League titles, and I didn’t.”
That kind of candour and authenticity and refusal to mask what others might view as weakness or fallibility were part of Keegan’s great appeal. What you saw was what you got.
Here, he had taken exception to Ferguson craftily suggesting before Newcastle’s visit to Elland Road that Leeds and Nottingham Forest, whom Keegan’s side would visit a couple of days later, would not try as hard as they had just done against his own Manchester United team.
Ferguson had pointedly reminded everyone that Newcastle had agreed to be the opponents for Stuart Pearce’s Forest testimonial later in the year.
The “mind games” trap was set and Keegan – furious that Ferguson had dared to question the professional integrity of the Leeds and Forest players – walked right into it live on air with Sky presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray.
Increasingly agitated and almost falling over his words, Keegan finished his rant with the immortal line: “But I’ll tell you – you can tell him now if you’re watching it – we’re still fighting for this title and he’s got to go to Middlesbrough and get something, and I tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it!”
To this day, the popular narrative is that Keegan losing it on air cost Newcastle the title. The reality is that the damage had been done before then, when Newcastle took just seven points from an eight-game sequence between February 21 and April 8. “We did succumb to mental tension – but that was well before my outburst,” Keegan would later reflect.
Even after beating Leeds, Newcastle still trailed United – who would face Middlesbrough on the final day – by three points, albeit with a game in hand. Keegan could have returned fire on Ferguson by mischievously questioning whether United legend Bryan Robson, by then in charge of Middlesbrough, had the appetite to beat his old side. But Keegan was always clear he would never have dreamt of acting in such a manner.
Newcastle would draw against Forest, meaning Manchester United held a two-point advantage going into the final round of matches. Ferguson’s side won at the Riverside as Newcastle drew once again and the title went to Old Trafford.
Fans never let Keegan forget his rant, though, even years later. Strangers would shout “love it” from car windows. Autograph hunters would tell him they would “love it” if he could sign their slips of paper. One family friend, he revealed in his autobiography, even had “love it” as his ringtone.
But Keegan, in keeping with his character and nature, would learn to see the funny side of it and even send himself up when giving speeches. “If you cannot laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?” he said.
A few years after the episode, Ferguson contacted Keegan to ask him for a favour on behalf of a charity venture in Scotland. Keegan did not hesitate to help. Ferguson was never going to be his best friend, but nor was Keegan going to hold a grudge.
Jim White
Kevin Keegan wore his heart on his sleeve and fans loved him for it
