It was with great sadness that I heard the news of Kevin Keegan‘s passing at the age of 75. Everyone knew that he was very ill from the statement released a month or so ago detailing his diagnosis of stage four stomach cancer, so this was not really a massive bolt from the blue but it’s always a shock when one of the immortals goes. What has not been a shock is the outpouring of love and emotions and respect for the player, the manager and the man.

My personal journey with Kevin Keegan started in the 70s when he was a player at Liverpool and England. Back then there was not much live football on television other than FA Cup finals, big European games or International games but everyone knew Kevin Keegan. Keegan was the first superstar footballer that I remember, who transcended the game through television appearances, adverts for the Green Cross code, adverts for Brut, dodgy pop records and falling off a bike on Superstars, a must see television program of the late 70s. All that was possible because of his personality and also the fact that he was a brilliant footballer. That is somewhat lost on a younger generation of people who only knew him as a manager. He was a brilliant footballer.

Keegan’s brilliance led Liverpool to a European Cup win before signing for Hamburg in Germany as England captain. Whilst at Hamburg won the European footballer of the year twice, which is now regarded as the forerunner to the Ballon d’Or.

In February 1980, the current European footballer of the Year Kevin Keegan, shocked the world by emerging into a press conference at the Potters Heron in Romsey, sat next to Lawrie McMenemy and announced that he was signing for Southampton. What?

It’s one of those moments where you always remember where you were when you heard. I was 11 years old and just leaving school for the day (bear in mind I lived near Portsmouth) and one of my mates asked me if I knew if Kevin Keegan was signing for Saints or not. How he had heard himself is a bit of a mystery. At that particular time I oddly, wasn’t that surprised because we already had a team containing Alan Ball, Dave Watson and Mick Channon – so we were known for signing England internationals but this would of course be the biggest name of the lot. No internet in those days of course so it wasn’t until I got home and saw my dad that I found out the news was true. To be more accurate, dad could barely talk and so we flicked on the TV and saw the press conference. Madness. The signing instantly made us everyone’s second favourite team.

It’s hard to accurately convey how big a news this was in 1980. Back then of course, the difference between what a club like Saints could offer financially, compared to the really big boys, wasn’t as far apart as it is now. The closest I can think of as a modern day equivalent would be someone like Harry Kane deciding that he was going to come back to England and sign for Southampton. It just isn’t happening and even if it did – the news wouldn’t be as seismic.

We had to wait until the next season started for Keegan to make his debut. The first game of the season was at home to Manchester City and the atmosphere was through the roof at The Dell as we destroyed them 2-0 with a couple of goals by Mick Channon. The natural enthusiasm that Kevin Keegan brought to the game, was immediately reflected in the performances of the rest of the players. Sadly, he suffered a few injury issues in that season and we ultimately finished sixth in the First Division, which was still decent, bearing in mind we’d only been promoted two seasons before. Keegan contributed 12 goals in 32 games but what he really contributed went far beyond number of times the ball hit the net..

The following season was when his Saints career really took off and there’s no exaggeration to say that he proved he was one of the best players in the world. In January we hit the top of the League with Keegan scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 win at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough. We couldn’t keep it up however and defensive issues saw us fall away and finish seventh with Keegan ending the season with 30 goals from 48 games. It was the most prolific season of his career and he won the PFA Player of the Year award.

Everyone could see that we were a couple of players short of being a genuine title contenders in 1982 and Keegan and Lawrie McMenemy reportedly clashed over what was needed and the two of them fell out and with Keegan being in the emotional sort that he is, that was the end of that and he left to join Newcastle. 13 year old me couldn’t understand it because Newcastle were a second division team at the time and the Saints were being accused of not matching Keegan‘s ambition – I didn;t understand the ‘call of home’ aspect at the time. As a Saints fan, the shame is that within two years, having signed the likes of Peter Shilton, Mick Mills, Mark Dennis and Mark Wright to sort out our defensive issues, we finished second in the league so who knows – if only Keegan had stayed an extra couple of years.

He had a character that everyone loved as a player, fantastic enthusiasm and he never stopped working. He was severely underrated as a player, probably down to England not qualifying for a couple of World Cups during his time with the national team in 1974 and 1978. He did get to play in a World Cup briefly in 1982 when he was still a Saints player but injury restricted his participation. For the brief period that he was with Saints, he gave us the belief that we could beat anyone and it’s a crying shame that he was never the Saints manager at any point.

His managerial career saw him build a brilliant entertaining side at Newcastle that came second in the league a couple of times and he was always entertaining himself, always wearing his heart on a sleeve. Spells at Manchester City and Fulham had highlights as well and he gave the England national team job a go as well and gave one of the most honest resignation speeches I’ve ever heard from anyone when he basically said that, he wasn’t up to it from a tactical point of view and that that was needed in international football. I had great respect for him for that alone.

What I remember most though is some of the performances and goals for Saints and how he made everyone feel just with his presence on the pitch. He raised the level of everyone. His involvement about four times in “that” Mick Channon goal against Liverpool and the overhead kick against Man United that got disallowed and is regarded as one of the great lost goals. I was only a kid but he was a massive part of my first ten years of supporting Saints and from a wider perspective, falling in love with football as a whole.

So we mourn the passing of one of the true legends of the game. He might not have stayed at Saints for a long time, but he certainly left his mark and the world is a worse place without Kevin Keegan in it.

Rest in Peace