ImagesPAI was excited about the club’s untapped potential, and what it would
be like to be the guy to finally get it right there; to inspire those brilliant
and loyal supporters who flocked to St James’ Park.
For all the romanticism, I still got a terrible shock when I walked back
into the club and found it in a right mess.
The training ground was in a state of disrepair and Terry McDermott,
who I’d brought in to be my assistant manager, called it a ‘shithole.’
It was absolutely filthy; everything was covered in a layer of dirt – the
dressing rooms, the gym, the baths and showers.
There wasn’t even a washing machine. The players took their own kit
home to wash, and to save money on hotels, the club wouldn’t travel
to a game the night before, only on the actual day.
The players didn’t feel valued, so I spent £6,000 of my own money
refurbishing the training ground. We basically fumigated it, cleaned it
up and gave everything a lick of paint, and soon the players began to
train and play with a sense of pride again.
When I arrived back at Newcastle I didn’t know many of the players,
only really Micky Quinn and Ray Ranson, and I knew virtually none of
the other players in the Second Division.
On our first day of training I said to Terry Mac, ‘Wow, they aren’t that
good!’ Some of the players had ability, but a lot were a long way short.
The truth is that even though I hadn’t played for seven years, myself
and Terry Mac were the best two players in training!
But I just had a sense that I could get the best out of them and keep
them in the Second Division, which we confirmed on the final day of
the season with a 2-1 win at Leicester. We finished just four points
above the relegation zone.“THE TRAInInG GROUnD WAS
FILTHY AnD TERRY MAC CALLED
IT A S**THOLE – SO I SPEnT
£6,000 OF MY OWn MOnEY On IT”
The following season I wasn’t interested in mere survival again, and
on the eve of the campaign announced I’d be taking Newcastle up into
the Premier League. I’m pleased to say I kept my word.
We were now a more confident side, and with better players like Rob
Lee, John Beresford, Scott Sellars and Andy Cole, we won our first 11
league games and finished eight points clear as champions.
On entering the Premier League in 1993-94, I wanted to throw down
a gauntlet to the big clubs, particularly champions Manchester United
and their manager Alex Ferguson.
‘Watch out, Alex, we’ll be after your title,’ I wrote in my programme
notes, and I meant it. You can’t do that now. A team coming up from
the Championship has no hope of challenging for the Premier League
title, but back then you could really have a go.
We knew that we were better than the bottom half of the division,
and should just aim to finish as high as possible. I set high standards
and it rubbed off on the players, and even on the directors.
So much so that our deputy chairman Douglas Hall felt emboldened
to fly to Turin to sign Roberto Baggio from Juventus, who was arguably
the best player in the world at that moment. He said, ‘Do you want to
come with me? We’re going to sign Baggio.’
I said, ‘Are you just going to knock on the door?’ That was basically
the plan! Unsurprisingly he got no joy in Italy. When he came back he
said, ‘Can you believe they didn’t even see me?’ Yes, I could believe it,
because we would have done the same!
But we did very well without Baggio, as I already had a dream strike
partnership in Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley, who scored 55 league
goals between them to help us finish 3rd.
We were like a juggernaut by that stage – once we’d got going, we
were powerful and picking up speed. We chipped away, improving the
squad as much as we could. We were never going to get the very best
players – they would always go to London or Manchester United – so
we had to be smart and find players to improve us.
The following season, in 1994-95, we stalled a bit and finished 6th,
but halfway through I decided to sell Andy Cole to Manchester United.
It came as a big shock, but I had this instinct that we’d seen the best
of him. We’d had a few problems with him in training and he wanted
a move. Maybe he’d been tapped up. When you have someone who
doesn’t want to be there, you have to let them go.I nEVER ARGUE WHEn PEOPLE SAY I WASn’T InTO TACTICS – IT’S TRUE
In the summer of ’95 we strengthened the squad again to prepare for
a full-out assault on the Premier League title.
We brought in Les Ferdinand from QPR, who was 28 but still hungrier
than ever. I loved Philippe Albert, a Belgian centre-back at Anderlecht
who we thought we had no chance of signing, but we convinced him
to come and join us, too.Clockwise from
bottom Hands up if
you’re here to be
the messiah; “Have
any of you lot got a
Sharpie?”;
Keegan saved
Newcastle from
nosediving into the
third tier in 1992,
winning at Leicester
on the final day;
tasting title glory
on Tyneside 12
months later
FourFourTwo.com The Managers 89KEVIn
KEEGAn