Kevin Keegan returned to the North-East this week for a speaking engagement along with Peter Beardsley, Terry McDermott, and Chris Waddle. During that event, Keegan told fans that they can still dream big for Newcastle despite having Mike Ashley as the owner.
However, he warned that for Newcastle to get back to the top end of the Premier League, they were going to have to go about it differently than the top six clubs do.
This what Keegan said about how Newcastle can get back to the upper echelon of the Premier League:
“There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be. You had more chance in the 1970s and 1980s than you have now – regardless of what’s happening now at the football club. Attracting the big players now is always going to be difficult because of the London clubs.
“The big players now are mainly foreign players, no disrespect to the English players. So all those things have conspired to go against us because of the location.
“I think this time it has to start with youngsters coming through again. It has to be a different way. You won’t get big-name players to Newcastle because the really big ones will now go to Man United, Man City or Liverpool, Tottenham or Arsenal or Chelsea, and then after that you are pitching in with the others.”
Newcastle have been reportedly interested in increasing the talent level of the Academy. Steve Bruce mentioned earlier in the summer that money was set aside to bring in some talented youngsters. Newcastle did bring in Kyle Scott, Jake Turner, and Ludwig Francillette to help boost the Under-23 squad however they were all free agents.
The last time Newcastle were battling at the top of the Premier League was in the 2011-12 season when they secured a fifth-place finish under Alan Pardew. That team benefitted from some very astute signings like Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, and Papiss Cisse. A failure to follow that terrific campaign with a suitable transfer window the following summer was a monumental mistake.
Alan Pardew recently said the following about that season:
“We managed to put performances in and have a season which was really unprecedented in the last 15 years. Only Leicester could have bettered what we did at Newcastle.”
Since then it’s been all downhill at Newcastle with the club’s two best finishes being 10th place in 2014 and 2018. It looked like that tide was going to turn this season as Rafa Benitez’s three years at the club seemed primed to push Newcastle into the top of the table. However, that all fell apart when Mike Ashley failed to meet the Spaniard’s level of ambition for the club and Rafa ended up leaving this summer.
That decision, along with the cruel BZG takeover saga, led to a toxic summer which has seeded a renewed interest in boycotts of St James Park. The apathy that Mike Ashley has fermented at the club has seen the attendances at St James Park plummet this season.
The Chronicle have published some of Keegan’s comments on the state of Newcastle as he waded into the controversial topic of boycotts. This is Keegan’s take on the subject:
“What I said last time ended up being at the ground (via a banner). But it is your club. Everybody will have a different opinion on what you should do with what has happened in the last 12 years.
“The only opinion that really matters is your opinion. If you want to go to the game – go. Because you love the club.
“If you love the club so much that you think you can’t, don’t go. I’m not a person that goes round shoving their opinions on to everybody else. This is an individual choice that you have. Don’t be bullied. If you want to go, go.
“Those players still need your support. You have to think long and hard and I know it’s tough. I know there’s other stuff, and I don’t disagree with any of that. I see all the angles, but everybody is different. Don’t let people clone you and do things you don’t want to do. Be yourself.”
We couldn’t agree more with Kevin Keegan’s assessment. It is a personal decision and is up to the individual.
The fans seem evenly split on the subject of boycotts. We will likely continue to see the diminished attendance levels at St James Park but we don’t see the levels getting too much lower than they currently are.
Our outlook could change though if Newcastle continue to struggle and end up cashing in on some players like Fabian Schar this winter. We don’t expect the club to make any further cataclysmic decisions this winter in the current climate. Although every time we think Ashley couldn’t possibly destroy this club anymore, we get a cold reminder that he can.
43 comments so far
Mad Frog Boom 22
Sep 28, 2019 at 7:36 PM
Comment #1Frog s are still here, so is Big M
Mad Frog Boom 22
Sep 28, 2019 at 7:37 PM
Comment #2Fakeover 10 – 0 Takeover
jimiley
Sep 28, 2019 at 7:39 PM
Comment #3Why does nobody come through The junior ranks?
because they are playing on their computers.
PHOOKED
Genjikai
Sep 28, 2019 at 7:51 PM
Comment #4https://twitter.com/MagpieGroupNUFC/status/1177844993354063873?s=19
This tweet from the magpie group the morning is spot on to this article by Neil.
Genjikai
Sep 28, 2019 at 7:52 PM
Comment #5Jimnly
Not true its just been the piss poor setup by ashley over the kast 12 years why we have not seen anybody or anybody on a regular basis.
He has stripped the club bare from head to toe.
jimiley
Sep 28, 2019 at 7:56 PM
Comment #6He has stripped the club bare.
So where are the Shearers and Gascoignes and Beardseys? They are not playing for NUFC and they are not playing anywhere else. But they are playing computer games.
jimiley
Sep 28, 2019 at 8:01 PM
Comment #7Who is the last world class player brought up in the NE. Regardless of whether they played for NUFC or not? Its decades and thats why NE footy is phooked. NUFC has no money and the area has no youth talent. Phooked.
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 8:18 PM
Comment #8jimiley
We have plenty money
We could have more if Jabba wasnt using us as his tat shop advert
Jabba is the problem
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 8:19 PM
Comment #9Mike Ashley stands by Steve Bruce decision as crowds dwindle
https://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/mike-ashley-stands-steve-bruce-decision-crowds-dwindle-637451
We are so lucky Jabba is such a good owner
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 8:21 PM
Comment #10Sports Direct auditor under investigation over company’s family deal
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/28/sports-direct-auditor-under-investigation-over-companys-family-deal
From 2016
How long are they going to faf about ?
Reilly
Sep 28, 2019 at 8:23 PM
Comment #11jib hates KK.
cyprus
Sep 28, 2019 at 8:43 PM
Comment #12J
Your answer is HBA.
On the game, I’ve bet draw or win NUFC. Crazy I know, but not any crazier than the Spurs result. And we didn’t lose to them a couple weeks ago.
We have a couple of players who can do some damage. Now, if only we can figure out how to hold on to the ball…
cyprus
Sep 28, 2019 at 8:47 PM
Comment #13KK is right about cheap raw young talent, but it doesn’t have to be from the NE. It can be from anywhere in the world. We need to improve our scouting, there are plenty young talented individuals out there.
cyprus
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:01 PM
Comment #14Just when people are about to give up on challenging the big guns, there appears a Leicester to shake things up.
Bournemouth, Burnley are higher than Man U in the table. Who’d believed that?
Sears was the largest retailer in the world, where is that company now?
Anyway, conclusion: of course there’s hope. A couple shrewd or lucky transfers and you’re there.
It’s 11 v 11.
Munster Mag
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:02 PM
Comment #15Not exactly an endorsement from a legend for the people who are telling fans not to go to games
Jail for Ashley
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:15 PM
Comment #16Moanster,
Nobody is telling people not to go to the games, however there are people like you telling people they should ho while sitting on your ar$e in Ireland watching dodgy streams that benefit the club in no way, shape or form.
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:16 PM
Comment #17Yeh Munster
Keegans a nightmare
Lets hope Jabba ends us as a club
Have you noticed Munsters always knocking people Jabba hates ?
Funny that
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:16 PM
Comment #18Hiya Munster
Lets hope we end up without a club
Genjikai
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:31 PM
Comment #19This man is #Nufc
King kev
I was born in 91, brought up on yours and sir Bobbys football.
I was lucky, that i have the memories of a time before ashley.
There is a whole generation who has only know ashleys version of nufc.
They will never experience owt like you inspired.
Thank you kevin Keegan.The passion for Newcastle, the love you have always shown,inspires me to fight for our club,this is our club. Not his. One day we will have it back.And when we do, it will be better than anyone can ever imagine. You brought real hope to a young geordie boy.
Genjikai
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:34 PM
Comment #20Made me cry when i tweeted that the morning.
Not embarrassed to admit it.
Maybe i was tired off my shifts but i doubt it.
Ashley get out of our club.
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:46 PM
Comment #21Gen
He was a nightmare for us Keegan
Gave us some of the best nights of football in our lifetimes, hope, ambition
Everything people like Jabba and Munster hate
😉
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 9:48 PM
Comment #22Gen
Myself
I used to go to games in the dark ages, when Gazza played and the like
Keegan was our savior
He made us into what people remember us as
It sickens me when people try and knock him for some kind of twisted PR bollix
Nicky the ball tosser
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:09 PM
Comment #23Crazy, crazy situation, because you have an owner who could easily have changed everything at anytime just by putting an extra 20 million in a year for a few years and with it hired a top manager and boot room, built up the Academy, the training facility and the scouting network.
60 to 80 million of his own money and there’d have been no relegations, consistent top 10 finishes as well as cup runs, a grateful devoted fan base as good as anything in football and an asset worth twice to him what it is today.
Nuts.
Genjikai
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:10 PM
Comment #24Toon22
I guess i was lucky as that was the first years on my toon journey.
The pride he brought to the city.
He gave me hope of a better future.
Being a young geordie boy, it showed if you put all your effort in you can make something of yourself.
Ill always have keegan and sir bobby to thank for that.
That hope was getting built up again by rafa. You could feel it.
Ashley has to go now.
Genjikai
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:11 PM
Comment #25Nicky
Honestly for a “top” business man you cant make it up have shit he has run us.
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:33 PM
Comment #26Nicky
The guy has no interest other than what he can take, its all hes got
He isnt interested in us in any other way
He is the worst owner imaginable
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:35 PM
Comment #27Jabbas goons have said ” they dont know how horrible we can be”
In reality they have no idea how horrible it can get, i was there
They have no idea just how bad things were, and so easily could be again
People who love our club will do things they cant imagine
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:52 PM
Comment #28Dont like posting Chron links but it was all i could find
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/watch-unseen-footage-tynesides-hooligan-8136557
If Jabba and his goons think we are going to lay back and watch him end our club he will find that reality is very different
dig-n-dig22
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:53 PM
Comment #29Jimiley 3
Why is nobody coming through the junior ranks?
Because they are playing on their computers.
I took my grandson to junior league Sunday football from the age of U7s to U16s, he played to a decent standard but he had to give up football after his kneecap was shattered, he needed an operation to wire and pin his kneecap.
During that time I used to see kids with lots of ability and flair .Quite a few kids were picked by football league clubs and usually offered a 1 season contract, the kids would return to their Sunday league club the following season totally deluded and bewildered minus their ability and flair that was quickly coached out of them. The only thing the coaches seemed to be interested in was family medical history, the height of their parents and their 100 metre sprint time. coaches aren’t looking for a Gascoigne or a Beardsley.
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:53 PM
Comment #30Take a look KBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHbAQARXebk
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 10:54 PM
Comment #31Yes it was a very long time ago
We love our club the same
😉
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 11:23 PM
Comment #32If KBA think they can fob us off with some pretend sale to Kenyon
While in reality we were never sold
Will some how end the unrest
He, and his idiot goons, are very…very mistaken
Genjikai
Sep 28, 2019 at 11:27 PM
Comment #33Toon22
Until ashley has no ties what so ever with the toon, we will not stop.
Sell the club with a clean break and fcuk off you leach.
Oldgit1
Sep 28, 2019 at 11:43 PM
Comment #34At Nicky totally agree, he could have all the tools in place to take this club to the highest level by employing someone who had the knowledge ie Rafa, although I’m thinking it should have been done 10yrs or more ago. He admits he is not a football man so why did he not surround himself with someone that could point the way.
Instead he decided to run the club like a retail outlet, putting in place budgets, profit making, etc. Even doing a costing on whether the club should make an effort on competing in cup matches which resulted in them deciding it was not cost effective. There are load of things that back up the inept way our club is being held back.
If done correctly from the start his club would be worth at least a billion in today’s market. But no and it is the fans that suffer.
Bleatin' n Bruced
Sep 28, 2019 at 11:48 PM
Comment #35Jibs set his stall out about KK a long time ago – a serial quitter who had the temerity to actually give fans hope way above their station and ruining things for decent, wholesome, honest managers like Pardew and McClaren, humble folk who only wanted stability and three square meals a day (in the case of King Pards, someone else’s meal).
He’s also unreservedly scathing of the dastardly thief SJH and the unrelentingly oafish mule Freddy S, hideous people who leached the lifeblood from the club and who (almost probably might have possibly) took us to the brink of ruin. Cue forelock tugging (and other parts of course) for The Great Mike Ashley, financial stabiliser and benefactor to the filthy Geordie ingrates.
No room for such sentimental reminiscence of days when we were regularly top five, playing European competitions every year and getting to FA Cup finals and almost, almost winning the PL title with said serial quitter, and nothing like the national object of ridicule we are today. That stuff is best forgotten. We should all be thankful we are not Rushden & Diamonds.
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 11:52 PM
Comment #36JIB and his many alts are pure PR
He posts here to defend jabba
He isnt worth answering with his utter bollix
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 11:53 PM
Comment #37Funny how Munster has the same views on KK as JIB
Who would have guessed
toon22
Sep 28, 2019 at 11:55 PM
Comment #38Oldgit1
Jabba is so clueless he wouldnt have the first idea how he could have built the club, and made double the money
He has to be the thickest billionare on earth
He made his money mugging people off and being horrible
And thinks we cant be as horrible as him
Challenge accepted
Genjikai
Sep 29, 2019 at 12:04 AM
Comment #39Toon22
Challenge accepted.
Genjikai
Sep 29, 2019 at 12:05 AM
Comment #40Your right.
Hes fcuked about with the toon. Thinks he can do what he wants.
Ashley where ever you are, we are.
Us geordies just arnt going to lie down and get shafted from you.
Your a menace to society and you need to be ended.