Wouldn't have him anywhere near us, TBH. His real achievement was promotion at the first attempt but what a poor division it was. Take our so-called nearest ‘rivals’ Wolves, who blew a seven-point lead over us when we had three games in hand (one of which we lost at Wimbledon). We did the double over so many teams who have never been back to that division again (Grimsby springs to mind) and of course dear old Millwall who contrived to lose 3-2 at home to us with no travelling support (unless you got a local to arrange a ticket for you) and still lost at Maine Road after we’d had a man sent off and missed a penalty. Didn’t we give Wednesday the lead and still beat them 6-2 away and 4-0 at home? Easy to play fast, attacking and winning football against this sort of shite.
His transfer dealings were poor overall. Yes he brought us Berkovic, Pearce and Benarbia but also Colosimo, Negouai and Vuoso (£4 million that lad cost us). Macken sort of did OK but was never worth the £5 million Keegan insisted on paying. His mishandling of the Robbie Fowler deal also cost us our best chairman of the last 4 decades as well, another expensive deal that didn’t really work out.
But the worst of it for me was his handling of Goater and Huckerby. He wanted the Goat out from the first day and told him so but kept up the nice, supportive act in front of the media. This is the same fella who was top scorer and got 9 very important goals for us when we got back into the Premier League, including three beauties against the Pestilence. Huckerby was dumped on his arse from the off in the Div 1 championship season, scored 4 against the Brummies in the League Cup and still struggled to get a game in a team who’d been minced 4-0 by West Brom away and (shamefully) Wimbledon at home. Huckerby finished second-top scorer in the league behind the Goat that season, which tells you all you need to know about Keegan’s judgment and faith in his own players.
His transfer dealings were poor overall. Yes he brought us Berkovic, Pearce and Benarbia but also Colosimo, Negouai and Vuoso (£4 million that lad cost us). Macken sort of did OK but was never worth the £5 million Keegan insisted on paying. His mishandling of the Robbie Fowler deal also cost us our best chairman of the last 4 decades as well, another expensive deal that didn’t really work out.
But the worst of it for me was his handling of Goater and Huckerby. He wanted the Goat out from the first day and told him so but kept up the nice, supportive act in front of the media. This is the same fella who was top scorer and got 9 very important goals for us when we got back into the Premier League, including three beauties against the Pestilence. Huckerby was dumped on his arse from the off in the Div 1 championship season, scored 4 against the Brummies in the League Cup and still struggled to get a game in a team who’d been minced 4-0 by West Brom away and (shamefully) Wimbledon at home. Huckerby finished second-top scorer in the league behind the Goat that season, which tells you all you need to know about Keegan’s judgment and faith in his own players.