Kevin Keegan's tenure at Newcastle United ended, just eight months after he returned to St. James' Park for his second stint as manager to a hero's welcome, with a statement issued by the League Managers' Association, writes Louise Taylor.
One of the most protracted and painful farewells in football was confirmed when Kevin Keegan finally resigned as the manager of Newcastle United. An increasingly acrimonious three-day stand-off between Keegan and Mike Ashley concluded with the club's billionaire owner refusing to be backed into a corner by the former England coach's demands before forcing him to walk out.
A source revealed that a clause in Keegan's contract made him liable to pay Ashley �2m in compensation if he quit. The club is considering taking legal action to recover that money but Keegan may counterclaim for constructive dismissal.
Gus Poyet, Tottenham Hotspur's assistant manager and a close ally of Dennis Wise, Newcastle's powerful director of football, was immediately installed as the favourite to succeed "King Kev" but Marcelino Garc�a Toral, the Real Zaragoza coach, is much admired by the club's hierarchy and also looks a strong candidate. Deportivo La Coruna's Miguel Angel Lotina and Real Sociedad's Juanma Lillo are other possibilities.
Protesting Newcastle fans, dismayed by the loss of their beloved "Messiah", were seen throwing season tickets into the Tyne, calling for Ashley's head and talking of boycotting the home game against Hull. Keegan's tenure ended, just eight months after he returned to St. James' Park for his second stint as manager to a hero's welcome, with a statement issued by the League Managers' Association. "I've been working desperately hard to find a way forward with the directors but sadly that has not proved possible," he said in that bulletin. "It's my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want. It remains my fervent wish to see Newcastle United do well in the future and I feel incredibly sorry for the players, staff and, most importantly, the supporters. I have been left with no choice other than to leave."
That was disputed by Newcastle in a frosty riposte in which they said they were "sad and disappointed" by Keegan's action. They added that the former manager had rejected proposals designed to restore harmony. "The club made it clear to Kevin that if he had any outstanding concerns on its proposals, he should raise them with the club," they said. "The club regrets that Kevin has, instead of taking up that offer, chosen to resign."
Trouble festered almost from the day, in late January, when Wise and his cohort Tony Jimenez were installed at St. James' Park as Ashley implemented a two-tier continental- style managerial system. Wise's brief was transfers and Keegan's coaching but the latter was distressed to find he had virtually no influence on who was bought and sold, with the final straw coming on transfer deadline day when Newcastle tried to sell Michael Owen and Joey Barton behind his back.
Furious rows with Wise and Derek Llambias, the club's managing director, followed. It was the beginning of an impasse between a manager resolutely refusing to resign and an owner, who has been in the United States, declining to pay Keegan at least �2m in compensation for dismissing him.
With the latter decamping to the north-west, Manchester became the scene of a prolonged final act in which Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the LMA, mediated with Newcastle's board and Keegan's lawyers were briefed for battle. Those lawyers made it clear to Llambias that Keegan wanted to stay as manager but only if he was given full control of transfers and Wise and Jimenez were removed.
When this proposal was rejected in a formal letter from Llambias, it became clear that a compromise was impossible. As negotiations shifted to the financial details of Keegan's departure, the manager spoke to a senior player and told him he would almost certainly not be returning. Newcastle's squad, who almost all liked and enjoyed working with Keegan, were angry that no director explained the situation to them. An agent representing a member of Keegan's squad said: "The players' morale is at rock bottom."
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