When Kevin Keegan left Newcastle United after five thrilling years in charge on January 8th, 1997, there was genuine disbelief among Magpies fans while the local press dubbed it “Black Wednesday.”
Despite Newcastle still being in the Premier League title race, as well as the FA Cup and UEFA Cup, the adrenalin-fuelled white-knuckle ride that had seen the Toon legend take the club to within a whisker of the Premier League title was over.
Fan favourite Keegan, who scored 48 goals in 78 games for United in the early 1980s, had taken over from former Spurs and Argentina star Ossie Ardiles in February of 1992 as the club slumped to bottom of the old Second Division for only the fourth time in their history.
READ MORE:
- The Rapid, Fairytale Rise Of Newcastle United’s New Signing Garang Kuol
- The Top Ten Rated Players Outside The Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ Clubs
- Why Manchester United Can Win The Premier League This Season
With Sir John Hall bidding to take overall control in a huge boardroom reshuffle, something needed to be done - not just to halt a slide down the divisions, but to save their entire existence in the club’s centenary year.
And using the very same do-or-die spirit which he displayed as a player for Liverpool, Hamburg and England, Keegan inspired his players to fend off the threat of relegation and secure the short-term future of the club.
The following season Newcastle’s attacking ethos, tremendous work-rate and unbreakable spirit saw them win the First Division championship in style and secure their return to the top-flight in the process.
In their first season in the newly formed Premier League Newcastle came third, followed by a sixth place finish the following year - all the while playing a brand of captivating, if at times cavalier, football - but few could have predicted what was about to happen heading into the 1995/96 campaign.
Despite the departure of Andy Cole, who had left for Manchester United the previous January, they won nine of their first 10 games that season and had only lost twice before the festive period while producing some of the most breathtaking football seen in recent years.
They continued to play like champions elect well into the New Year, so when England's David Batty arrived from Blackburn Rovers and Colombian international Faustino Asprilla was signed for £7.5m from Parma, it seemed like the final pieces of the jigsaw had been put in place as the club chased their first title since 1927.
However, as the season wore on the cracks began to appear and if the first half of the campaign had been full of excitement and optimism, the second half was filled with tension and anxiety for Toon fans.
Keegan’s all-out style of football had been exposed when it came to their defensive weaknesses with United’s Rob Lee revealing: “Keegan never told us to take the ball into the corner if we were 2-1 up. We were told to try to get a third goal, then a fourth.”.
Four defeats in six games, including a 1-0 home loss to Manchester United and a 4-3 thriller at Anfield against Liverpool proved costly while a draw with Nottingham Forest in their penultimate game of the season sealed their fate as Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side eventually clinched their third title in four seasons.
The club responded by smashing the transfer record to sign Alan Shearer from Blackburn Rovers for £15 million the following summer and early signs suggested that Keegan’s men had put the previous season’s capitulation behind them.
They won seven of their opening eight games, while a 5–0 victory over Manchester United at St James' Park that October seemed to confirm that a strong challenge would once again be on the cards.
A run of seven games without a win heading into Christmas saw their title aspirations hit the buffers once more, but Keegan’s side was still fourth in the Premier League and within striking distance of league leaders Liverpool.
On December 28th, they thrashed Tottenham 7-1 at St James’ Park to maintain their place in the Premier League title race, a victory which they followed-up with a 3-0 defeat of Leeds United on New Year’s Day.
Nobody knew it at the time, but that was to be Kevin Keegan's last Premier League game in charge of Newcastle United as, following a 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup Third Round, the club announced that the former European Footballer of the Year had submitted his resignation.
The Magpies were fourth in the Premier League with 37 points, having won 11 and drawn four of their 21 games, scoring 38 goals and they were still competing in the UEFA Cup - not surprisingly there was genuine bewilderment.
“People cried in the streets or stared at each other in stunned silence. RIP Kevin Keegan, Newcastle United manager - February 1992 to January 8, 1997,” The Newcastle Chronicle reported.
"For the first time, I was not enjoying the job," Keegan later revealed in his autobiography. "I no longer had the same enthusiasm going into training.
"The people at the top of the club were preparing to float Newcastle on the stock market and, as a rift grew behind the scenes, it had started to feel as if we were no longer all on the same wavelength."
Under Keegan’s tenure, Newcastle would go from the bottom of the second tier to challenging for the Premier League title, and had they been able to defend a lead, would probably have been champions.
Though for many it was the way they played that made his side so memorable, and why the team that became known as “the entertainers” are talked about possibly more than any other that has failed to win a trophy.
