Poll: Are Newcastle crackers to bring back Keegan?

Wow! Kevin Keegan is back in Toon. From one Soccer Circus to another, King Kev has accepted Mike Ashley's offer to return to St James' Park. Times Online readers gave a resounding thumbs-up to the idea that Keegan should return as the Newcastle United manager, but now that it's happened have the club made the right choice? Will the entertainment level on the pitch be cranked up? Does Keegan still have what it takes to manage the Premier League? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts on the return of Mighty Mouse to Tyneside.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Comments

[Carla]

Kevin Keegan has done brilliantly in the past and what is all this nonsense about "football being different than what it was in 1997?" No it isn't. Keegan will still has his way of motivating the players and providing impressive football. Who would people rather have? Mark Hughes? Harry Redknapp? History would just repeat itself as it has done with Ruud Gullit, Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder and Sam Allardyce. If people aren't happy with Keegan, they never will be.

[keith duncan]

typical, just cause you live in 3 bedroom houses worth 350,000 pound dont make you bettter of than us we have a passion for life and tha evolves around our region we are proud of it and where we come from we dont try to hide it our passion is show in how we support our club until u become a geordie which will never happen you will never unterstand......... football is about bringing divides together not puttin others down ...... good example you all must be to put the thoughts of others down just because the believe in something

[Deb]

Classic example of ignorant southern stereotyping from David here. Geordies must be on the dole, right? Why don't you just wave £20 notes and sneer "Loadsamoney" at us? And have you never heard of days off - or shift work?

[dave]

Keegan got rid of the reserve team on his last visit and the club lost a generation of young players as a result. What happened to lippi,deschamps or Hughes, people would would put in place a meaningful infrastructure and set foundations for succuess?keegan is a glitzy,hollow appointment to satisfy the same salivating idiots who embarass themselves and the city by swarming round the tv cameras at St James to try and live upto thier stereotype. Gutted and ashamed.

[billy]

It's easy for us armchair supporters to say who should be manager & what kind of football Newcastle United should play,who should they sign etc.We don't buy the season tickets, it is the people who pay the money to watch each game that has the biggest say in the matter.Newcastle United supporters want to watch attacking football.They want to be entertained.With Kevin Keegan back in charge that is what they will get.They do not like ugly football even if they win the game so Mike Ashly/KK are going to give them what they are demanding & will have a lot of excitment doing it.

[Kris]

You people keep saying football has changed over the years and modern game is different and all! No it hasn't. It's still the most beautiful game and played with 11 men. Brazil is still the sexiest and Italy & Germany still efficient. Holland has the best squad yet hasn't won anything & any team could beat England in a shoot-out. Ouch! And all those result driven long-term managers are no where near a major trophy. Not last decade, not at the present, not in next 10 years. Their game is to survive in the top flight; not to be victorious. Only an adventurous manager like Keegan qualify to reach those heights.

And YES!! the fans are the most important aspect of the whole thing. They feed the team, they cheer them on in the games, they are the sole reason for the club's existence. There'll be no MUFC, NUFC nor Arsenal if there's no one supporting them. So listening to them is not wrong.

[Davy B]

If the next five years are as good as the last time that will do me fine.any thing extra will be fantastic thank you kev on behalf of the Geordie nation

[James]

Theres only one Kevin Keegan!!

[Howard]

I hope he does well for Newcastle's long (delusional?) suffering fans.

Let's face it, it's a horrible part of the world (okay perhaps Hull is worse) and football is all they've got.

[Matt]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[Tigger]

Well, that goes to disprove the old adage, "Lightning never strikes twice..."

For Newcastle United, lightning is striking twice and this particular lightning has a confirmed history of creating a tremendous amount of light and then.......total disaster!

The Newcastle board need to have the courage to stop being popular (when have the fans ever known what was good for the team?) and to choose, and pay for, a real manager. Otherwise a, once great, team will continue in it's (presently terminal) downward spiral.

[George Timuri]

The appointment of Kevin is good in the short term but they should have gone for Alan Shearer. Although lacking in managerial experience he has grips of the "modern" game and he should have been given the go.If Sam with an impressive CV failed to crack the whip, it is no guarantee that a person with similar credentials would have made it. Kevin should have simply faded in the background; he is simply damaging his otherwise "impressive CV". He should simply remember that times have simply moved on; the conditions then in 1997 are now different to 2008.

[Armchair Manager]

At least his appointment has saved the club from Bonnie Prince Alan - a charmer but a disaster waiting to happen.

It's unlikely anybody could withstand the collective impatience that has accumulated on Tyneside. Something's rotten in the kingdom; the question is, can *any* one person do anything about it? not likely, so same schtick, another season.

[keith duncan]

i read most of the comments on the page so far........ peopl need to understand about newcastle and the relationship it has with its hero's and the past, managers with no forma ties to the club have never done well for the club it has always been people with the club at heart and havin heart and the knowledge of others around you can be a winning formula having heart will get you through things, to drive on and achieve something and this is wot keegan brought to newcastl both time s as a player and a manager ... i was at the game last night and the whole buzzz about the club changed over night the fans were singin they helped the player achieve that victory..... the fans are what make newcastle united so if keegan is there chioce. i take my hat off to ashley he delivered a massive injection to the club with this appiontment and its not just a temporary boost its long term......

[Horrible]

Great to have you back Kev and lets hope its goodbye to all the sad punters who think they know somebody elses football club better than the supporters who go week in week out.
Perhaps now they can take their bile, jealousy and football ignorance home with them.

[David]

I'm pleased about the appointment which should give us plenty of fun over the next few months - in fact, until Kevin decides to pack it in again or Ashley moves him on.

Can you please clarify why it is that, whenever anything happens at Newcastle, there are always dozens of Geordies hanging around in NU football shirts ready to give the media a shout? I am wondering whether the Labour Exchange has an office at the club for all these layabouts to sign on for their dole money.

[michael wilson]

There is nothing clever about modern football. The players aren't fit, they don't know the rules and the goalkeepers are blind. Tell me who can shoot from 30 yards with both feet? How many goals are missed inside the 6 yard box? I wouldn't pay a washer to watch a modern football match in which the average referee should send off about 5 of each team every game.

[Mark]

Hmm. So second time around is never the same eh?

For all the Howard Kendalls of this world there are Harry Redknapps and Walter Smiths to counter.

At least it means that no player is bigger than the manager or club now!!!

[Paul Farrant]

Another new begining for Newcastle, it's about time they went for a new ending!

[Nicolas Kozeschnik]

Keegan is a decade too late to play sexy football at Newcastle. The man has been out of football 3+ years and should of stayed that way. Times have moved on. If the current crop play his flamboyant charge of the light brigade football today, then start looking at them conceding cricket scores when Newcastle visit the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd or when they visit St.James Park. We may even see our first double figures this decade in the top flight! Mark Hughes was the man for the job, and Big Sam would have been had the fans actually given him the time. It takes two to three years to build a title wining team with big money owners.

[Keith]

To the Man City fan who was critical that he saw "Keegan lose the plot and struggle to buy well and/or comptete in the modern Prem."

I seem to recall at the time you were having financial troubles behind the scenes: this will not be the case at SJP now.

[Bob the Gravedigger]

This man was a king for Partizan Belgrade's fans and one of the reasons why we love Newcastle. Welcome back Kev!

[Chris]

I´m at a loss for words. What happened to Mark Hughes, the manager most likely to fit the mould of a potential Ferguson and Mourinho, let´s say it a winner!

No we want drama and sexy football well for that we can hire a TV Soap Director, what happened to the fella who master-minded "El Dorado".

I love Keegan, but Mike Ashley has to know where he wants us to be, in the Bigg Market or on the Quayside?

[Chris]

It's madness! As Martin Samuel points out, managers who go back to a club are very rarely successful the 2nd time around and usually end up damaging their reputations.

Still, I suppose it'll be fun whilst it lasts.

[Dave]

the clown returns to the circus, should be good for a laugh or two

[Steve, Stockport, Cheshire]

Well, I did predict this in my last post! Great lift for the club and could be a good move if someone like Shearer is groomed as his successor. However, as a Manchester City fan, I saw him lose the plot and struggle to buy well and/or comptete in the modern Premiership. He admits he hasn't been to a game since, so can his passion, enthusiasm and inspiration overcome his shortcomings ? I suspect not and he'll walk within 18 months, but if it lifts the club enough, money is well spent and the successor is quality then maybe.

[Flamboyant Big Col]

Only people who experienced Keegan as a player and or manager with NUFC can fully understand his god like status on tyneside. For us he saved the club on both occasions and his third spell could bring greater prizes.
He is a hero to us and real heroes are in short supply.
I wonder how many other fans have a geniune hero managing thier club, not many i imagine, and in this I rest my case.

[William Dust]

I think he'll boost morale, but football has changed and he hasn't the tactical abilities that managers of the top tier clubs have. I can't see them winning anything significient with him.

That said, short of Shearer, he's the only man that will be given a decent chance to at least build something. Newcastle may become exciting to watch. So I believe he's the right man at this time.

[William Dust]

I think he'll boost morale, but football has changed and he hasn't the tactical abilities that managers of the top tier clubs have. I can't see them winning anything significient with him.

That said, short of Shearer, he's the only man that will be given a decent chance to at least build something. Newcastle may become exciting to watch. So I believe he's the right man at this time.

[Monty]

It's a good choice....
for every other premiership club!

[Brett]

Of course they're right; someone who is going to get Newcastle back playing exciting football and someone who will give Shearer the experience he needs, perfect!!!

[Nick]

It may be crackers, it may be populist, but the appointment of anyone else other than Keegan or Shearer would have only increased the pressure from fans for the "dream ticket". If it works, Ashley becomes honorary geordie, if it doesn't, the crowd can hardly chant "sack the board" as they did as they were asked to do.

[Eamon]

A populist piece of propoganda effected by a man who knows nothing about football.