Kevein Keegan has released a statement expressing his delight at the tribunal decision.
Kevin describes the decision to resign as among the most difficult he’s ever faced.
The full statement from Kevin reads as follows:
“I am delighted that the Premier League Manager’s Arbitration Tribunal has today formally announced that it has upheld my claim for wrongful dismissal against Newcastle United Football Club. The full details of the decision are on the Premier League website and will also be added to the League Managers Association website in due course.”
“I took the decision to resign in September 2008 only after very careful and anxious consideration. The decision to resign was one of the most difficult that I have ever had to take in my life. I believe that anybody who knows me and my attachment to Newcastle United and the North East in general will understand how difficult this must have been. I very much hope that the decision of the Tribunal now confirms why I felt that I had no option but to resign from the position as manager of the club that I love.”
“The Tribunal has found the conduct of the club in forcing a player on me against my wishes represented a fundamental breach of my contract of employment. I do not believe that there is any manager in football who could have remained at the club in the light of their conduct.”
“Since my departure there have been many untrue stories written about my resignation, my time at the club and these proceedings. I do not blame the press for this: I know that the journalists concerned are only doing their job, but I hope that the Tribunal’s decision will now conclusively put to rest a number of allegations made against me.”
“In particular I believe that the Tribunal’s decision makes it clear that I did have the final say on transfers and the Club’s allegation that I did not, which was publicised widely at the time of my resignation and subsequently, was simply untrue.” “The Club admitted to the Tribunal that it repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle United.”
“I resigned because I was being asked to sanction the signing of a player in order to “do a favour” for two South American agents. No one at the club had seen this player play and I was asked to sign him on the basis of some clips on You Tube. This is something that I was not prepared to be associated with in any way.”
“The club knew that I objected strongly to this transfer and were aware that by continuing with it I was likely to feel that I had no option but to resign. Notwithstanding this they nevertheless went on to sign the player at very substantial cost to the club.”
“Contrary to the public statements made by the club at the time they did not do all that they could to retain me at the club. In particular they refused to acknowledge that I was entitled to the final say on transfers. This left me in a totally untenable position.”
“A number of the allegations made against me by the club at the hearing, in order to support their £2 million claim against me, were totally without foundation and should never have been raised in the proceedings.”
“I very much regret that this claim ever had to go to the hearing as it did. I want to state categorically that the allegation that has been made in the press that I turned down an offer of £4 million to settle the claim is simply untrue. No such offer was made to me.”
“I also want to confirm that a central purpose of my claim has always been to clear my name and restore my reputation. I consider it of vital importance that I was able to let people know about the full circumstances of my resignation and the way in which I had been treated by the club. I hope that this purpose has now been achieved.”
“There are a number of technical issues that still need to be resolved by the Tribunal and I obviously will not be in a position to comment on them until after those issues have been resolved.”
“I would like to thank my family, friends, legal team and the League Managers Association who have all offered me their unstinting support throughout this very challenging period. I would also like to thank the members of the Tribunal itself who have given such fair, able and meticulous consideration to my case.”
“Finally I would like to thank the fans of Newcastle United for their continued support and wish them and the club continued success in the current season in their goal of reaching the Barclays Premier League.”
And the Newcastle club issued a terse statement this morning as follows:
“The Premier League Tribunal Panel considering the matter between Newcastle United and Kevin Keegan has today returned its decision.”
“Click here to view the decision in full.”
“The Club will be making no comment on this matter.”
It’s interesting to us that the link to the full decision doesn’t work!
There is obviously a battle now for the PR on the case – but in our view both parties have to take responsibiltiy for what happened – and nobody comes out of this looking Lilly white.
The Newcastle club and the fans were the big losers in all of this, and the club was relegated last season in large part because of the inability of both parties to work through the problems.
But Kevin Keegan supporters will say that Kevin has been vindicated, and others will take satisfaction in that the £2M award was at the lower end of what could have been awarded to Kevin – since Keegan and his lawyers were claiming a massive £26M.
And if news stories last week were true that Keegan rejected a£4M offer from the club, he could have made twice the money he ended up with – if that was important to him.
We’re glad this nonsense is all over.
155 comments so far
batty
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Comment #41smike ashleys statement on the club website sorry iam a fat lyeing crook i learnt every thing i know of freddy shepperd
Spitfire
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Comment #42Stardust is probably a cad too
batty
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:16 PM
Comment #43keegan relized what a crook ashley is and wanted nowt to do with his dodgy dealings
sirjasontoon
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:16 PM
Comment #44Ashley Oot and Owl Heed Coot !!
bozo
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:17 PM
Comment #45SirJasonToon can you please not associate me with the current owner and his cronies, although I do appreciate the irony I have in fact been anti ashley for a very long time.
sirjasontoon
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Comment #46Ashley Oot-Completely Disgusted…I said all along he undermined Keegan and nobody undermines KK…With a bit of understanding,100% backing KK would have got us back on track…sacrificing a manager to satisfy 2 agents shifting a useless “youtube scouted” player must be setting alarm bells ringing with proper Toon supporters.
sirjasontoon
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Comment #47Haha Bozo….my ex girlfriend used to call me Bozo as well….she had to go for a better Model 🙂
dcbashore
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Comment #48If Keegan mans up and refuses to play Nacho rather than doing a runner (his specialty), we’re still in the Premier League. Regardless of how uncaring (I refuse to use the word incompetent as Ashley – much like a politician – clearly just doesn’t give a rip about the plebs) Ashley and Co. are, I still hold Keegan responsible in part for that aspect of it, not to mention the attempt to take the club for all it’s worth is nothing short of pathetic.
In a nutshell: The sooner the club are sold the better, but Keegan’s name is mud to me as well.
sirjasontoon
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Comment #49Stardust..I am not going to start a slanging match I respect all opinions.
However the outcome today has only cemented mine and others suspicions that Mike did not back KK.
Mike seems to forget that any footballing decision he makes is usually flawed,bad for the club,ill advised,destructive or similar.
Mike has led the club and the fans into a blind alley,a hell hole that we shall all stew in until he sees the light and slings his stupid hook out of our once great club.
Geordie Ahmed
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Comment #50Whoever writes this blog is an idiot
You have been besmirching Keegan all this time and now that he has been proven right you cant even bring yourself to offer an apology or to retract all the rubbish you wrote about him
Ericles
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Comment #51Spot on from Spitfire and Bigbadbob. It is now out in the public doman after adjudication that Ashley and Co are a bunch of liars, spivs and carpetbaggers. Come on lads – get a hatful against the Bristols on Saturday!
Johno Toon
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Comment #52Just as a matter of interest how many people feel sympathy for Souness?
Waddles mullet
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Comment #53estechco // Oct 2, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Spot on Spitfire & Pons Aelius.
Where are all the KK haters now?
Players on YouTube..are they having a laugh!
Don’t even get me started on the Xisco debacle. How much more than £2m will HE end up costing the club. No one has yet manged to convince me that his agent and brother (one Tony Jiminez) isn’t the same t*sser that we had scouting for us at the time…sorry I mean watching YouTube.
Now Kevin if you could maybe make a (small) donation to the SBR fund then you status as legend will be fully restored.
A legend fully restored would you have said this if he took the club for £25 million!!
what a bell end!!!
The end of the day Wise vetere and jimenez should not have signed nacho. FULLSTOP
But for keegan to walk then want £25 million the greedy yorkshire Bar stewerd.
They signed one effing loan player!!!
Did souness walk when we signed players behind his back or did robson walk when fat fred signed butt!
No did they fu(k!!!
Toon Chicken
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Comment #54Keegan: “I do not believe that there is any manager in football who could have remained at the club in the light of their conduct. ”
Erm… Rafa Benitez, Liverpool, Robbie Keane???
I cannot believe he thought the club he loved so much owed him £25m for bringing one crappy little player in on loan. I mean, it’s not as if they were forcing him to pick him every week. He was bloomin injured anyway.
I’m sorry but the memory of KK will be forever tarnished in my mind now. What a complete and utter pr!ck!
And can someone explain how he won his case for wrongful dismissal in the first place if the yellow tw@t walked?
Breach of contract, yes. But I don’t get the dismissal bit.
#
Keegan: “I also want to confirm that a central purpose of my claim has always been to clear my name and restore my reputation.”
Yeah – some reputation you’ve got now. Forever to be known as the man who not only walked out on the club he loved but then tried to bring it to its knees by claiming more than three times the value of his contract!
stuart no9
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Comment #55keegan wanted 25m he also refused a 4m out of court settlement WHO SAID THAT ,WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?some people believe everything they read in the papers,how can you slag a man off who has done so much for this club over a 27 year period ? it astounds me oh yeah and by the way ed you you talk a load of crap
Johno Toon
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Comment #56stuart no 9 , Its in the report Keegan sued for loss of future earnings
toonsy
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:50 PM
Comment #57Interestingly, i wonder what the view from the FA would be that we were trying to “do a favour” for some agents? I wonder what that means, and if any bungs have been passed around? With all the evidence against Ashley, i wonder if he is still viewed as being fit & able to own a football club! Quite frankly, he is a CNUT!
will die for the toon army
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Comment #58What is done is done so KK bye and thank you for all you did for NUFC.
Win on the weekend.
The International break come back with a new owner. I hear Moat’s group has money.
Where did the good times go
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Comment #59Good result all round as far as i’m concerned.
Keegan wins the argument and our club doesnt suffer too much financially.
*Roll on the takeover.
I dont agree with everything Keegan has done for the club,
Walking out on us twice
Scrapping the reserves
Selling Sir Les
I’m sure theres others, but what i cant do is list all the positives one man gave me and thousands of other fans, as it would take me as long as a Newcastle United protrated tackover!
The size of the compo’ Kev was asking for is disappointing, but i dare say when quibbling over a fee one party always goes too high and the other too low.
No matter this will not detract from the GREAT Keegan memories in this fan, other prehaps more fickle variety of fans can have there own say, but lets be honest like Ashley their true colours are finally being shown.
Keegan and Newcastle United will be long associated together long after this episode and if ‘followers’ (there not fans) dont like that there are plenty other clubs unworthy of there attention.
Newcastle UNITED……lets move forward.
Waddles mullet
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:56 PM
Comment #60Please Please Please will the shell suited chavs get on with supporting the team now!!
before you know it Mr ashley will be gone!
Waddles mullet
Oct 2, 2009 at 3:58 PM
Comment #61Dalgleish sold sir les
Partizan
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Comment #62Out of topic guys,,has anyone seen this player before,i would absolutely melt if we manage to sign this player.
If you think Robert(my favorite player) had the best free kick and long range shots,,please watch this video.
I must say that players from Russian league adapt in the EPL very fast,,well at least faster than La Liga players anyway.
You wont believe what power and accuracy this player has in his left foot,and he got his first cap for Brazil too.
I think 9 mill would be enough for him.
Partizan
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:01 PM
Comment #63Sorry i got so excited that i forgot to post the video 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNeq72jxAhE
sweendog
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:02 PM
Comment #64Keegan vindicated .. Ashley out ..
Also anyone heard about Redknapp supposedly getting the sack .. word has it Spurs have started the season too well and to rectify this Redknapp is due for the chop .. 🙂
Heard its for dodgy dealings ..
Where did the good times go
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Comment #65Waddle:
so true, my point till stands!
Waddles mullet
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Comment #66Hold on a minute Keegan walked because of a player on youtube!!!!
sweendog
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:04 PM
Comment #67word has it he’s been arrested..
Stardust
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Comment #68Toon Chicken – again fella – Brilliant.
Its amazing how many try and twist this into a Ashley is a liar debate.
Is that again because the accusation they forced Keegan to sign Xisco, Jonas, Colocini etc etc etc is now shown to be rubbish.
Ladies and gentlemen – this arbitration process was about constructive dismissal – Keegan walked because of 1 loan signing – he vehemently denies he would have walked otherwise – you have to accept that.
keegan walked because of 1 loan signing made to favour Newcastle and gain access to other great players.
There was the reason your King walked and wanted 25million.
Dress it up any way you wish – but the verdict and evidence is now laid bare for you to see.
You might choose to try and divert the eyes with the fact the club misled the fans – that was not on trial here – it was the reasons Keegan walked – he succeeded on a limp technicality.
While I totally accept that the club do not comeout of it in the clear – KK is now hung out to dry as far as I am concerned.
You can not argue or debate that – Keegan reduced his defence down to this one point – while in law it might have won him 2million – in life and my eyes – he is Kevin Keegan no more..
Macas35
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Comment #69Johno Toon – I had sympathy for Souness, the only difference is the players he had lumped on him were worth £25 million. And at the time he probably wasn’t complaining too much, although I would have had Boa Morte over Luque anyday. What people have to remember is that if Gonzalez turned out to be rubbish it would have been Keegan that took the flak for signing him.
Bigbadbob
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Comment #70sweendog – there is more to Portsmouths demise than meets the eye so your story wouldnt surprise me, he is manager who is always heavily involved in the transfer market and i dont think the Quest investigation will ever go away.
will die for the toon army
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Comment #71Team for the weekend;
…………………………Harper
Simpson………S.Taylor………..Zurab………..Enrique
………………………….Smith(c)
……..Guthrie……………………………….Jonas
………………………….Nolan
………….Harewood…………..Carroll
Subs:
Krul, R.Taylor,Kadar, Butt,Geremi, Ranger,Lovenkrands
Bigbadbob
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:08 PM
Comment #72stardust – been pummelled on .org and now spouting your crap on here now?
You backed a loser in Ashley, verdict went the wrong way for you so just accept it you big bubbly bairn.
Partizan
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Comment #73But even on youtube there wasnt anything stunning about Nacho.
sweendog
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Comment #74Bigbadbob .. yep .. theres no smoke without fire .. heard he has denied it .. but some betting sites have stopped taking bets..
Stardust
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Comment #75SirJason – You cant say that – KK only complained about 1 loan signing.
He stated in the trial as per the verdict – he was really happy.
The club argued he wasnt and was about to walk anyway as he felt the squad was too small.
the panel accepted he was not about to walk.
So him walking is about 1 loan signing ! made to get access to other players via influential agents.
Keegan walked for nothing.
sweendog
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:12 PM
Comment #76Toon chicken and Stardust .. still full of maddog .. support the team first .. ashley has singlehandedly ruined the team with his hired henchmen .. yet you never crack up with his ownership .. blinkered opinions again .. I’ll hazard a guess that you are both 12 year old mackem supporters..
Doocey
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Comment #77Victory for football maybe but at least it’s not a huge fee.
Bit disappointing that Keegan was so determined on raking in a fortune. Then again it’s all money these days.
Quite humours about checking Ignacio Gonzalez on Youtube, perfect model of what was going on at Newcastle during our relegation days.
stuart no9
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Comment #78ok i got it wrong , i have just read the report and ok kk did go for 25m , but i still love him,FAT ASH OUT WHEN DO WE WANT IT NOW
toonsy
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:23 PM
Comment #79Come on Moat, seal the deal!
bobby_ollox
Oct 2, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Comment #80OK – put aside the stuff about lies and spin – we may not like it but thats the way football and business works these days – get over it.
But here is the main point. The club bought a player ( for millions) as a favour for two South American agents. That is outright corruption. What did they expect to get in return for the favour ?