Keegan’s got us buzzing – Harper

Apr 12 2008 by Stuart Raynor, The Journal

The fans may not be there, but the ‘Keegan Effect’ is once again being felt on Newcastle’s training pitches. Steve Harper tells Stuart Rayner about the return of a phenomenon.

THE mid-1990s were an exciting and unique time for Newcastle United supporters. When Kevin Keegan put down his golf clubs and breezed back into St James’s Park for his first spell as manager, he started a chain events which altered not just the Magpies, but the whole city.

Saving the club from relegation to football’s third tier was just the start. Not only did “The Messiah” attract supporters back to the Gallowgate terraces in their droves, Keegan even lured them to training.

At a club whose public relations can occasionally be a weakness, Keegan was a panacea. So exciting was his football, so warm his relationship with the fans that training at Durham University’s Maiden Castle was regularly watched by thousands.

More than a decade on, the venue has changed, the crowds have dissipated but, according to Steve  Harper , Keegan’s effect on training remains. Of all Newcastle fans from that era,  Harper  is arguably the most privileged.

The Easington-born goalkeeper is the only man to have played during both Keegan’s spell as manager.

 Harper  was 18 when he first joined from Seaham Red Star in 1993 and it speaks volumes for his manager’s impact that he believes the latest stint compares favourably – on the training field if not on the sidelines.

He jokes about how many managers have tried and failed to fill Keegan’s boots in the interim, but none inspired the United players so visibly in training.

“They all – all 27 of them (sic) – have their particular strengths but the thing about Kevin is his motivational qualities,” he reflects. “He just seems to walk into a room and gets 20% more out of players.

“There is not a great deal different but the training is probably more intense and high tempo. Players are enjoying training and working hard now.

“I can remember the days at Maiden Castle when there were four or five thousand circling the pitch and it was real high tempo.

“The Barry Venisons and Paul Bracewells were getting stuck in and it is like that again. The training is competitive and there is an edge to it – not a nasty edge but a real intensity which has been missing for a while. Those days will never be repeated. I remember the first day I trained with John Burridge, I thought I was going to die we worked so hard.”

Keegan is renowned as a master motivator, but  Harper  believes his boss deserves credit for his tactical nous.

“Kevin Keegan is a very good communicator with players,” he confirms.

“He is always walking around speaking to players. Some managers can be quite distant whereas Kevin very much communicates with his players whether they are in the team, out of the team or injured. It makes them feel part of it and that helps him get the best out of his players.”

Even Keegan’s powers of motivation seemed ineffective on the team he inherited in January, so bereft were its players of confidence. But 10 winless games since his return have been followed by three consecutive victories – the result, says  Harper , of Keegan’s tactical rethink.

For last month’s trip to Birmingham City, he ditched his preferred 4-4-2 for a three-man forward line and United travel to Fratton Park unbeaten since. “You have got to give the manager and coaching staff credit for changing the system,” he says. “It has proved a masterstroke. We had some tough fixtures and were conceding and not really threatening, then we changed the system.

“Playing with that threat up front means we are not only scoring but I think teams are worried about those three and maybe not attacking as much as they were beforehand.

“We must keep this run going for the last five games, get to the end of the season and then rebuild. We have quality players but we need more depth of the quality players.” Life has not been a bed of roses for  Harper  at Newcastle. Fifteen years after his arrival, today’s will be only his 97th start for the club. While many outsiders have questioned his ambition,  Harper  reveals the truth is rather different.

“Yeah, there would be times when I thought ‘what if’ but you try not to look back,” he says. “That is why it is important to maximise it now.

“I came in a very raw 18 year-old, went on loan for two or three years, had a couple of bad injuries. Then I came back, had three or four years when Shay Given and myself were neck and neck, in and out of the side. Then there were three or four years when Shay was in the team, did not get injured and was outstanding and those were the three or four worst years of my life.

“I had not played enough games for people to come and take me. It was very much a case of out of sight, out of mind. I knocked on the door of all those 27 managers and asked to go out on loan constantly but was not allowed. Just because I did not shout my mouth off in the Press, people associated that with a lack of ambition.

“Those three or four years were the hardest part of my career. People say how did I get through it? I honestly do not know.”

Now, it seems, he is getting his reward.