Kevin Keegan: No one finished a winner

Oct 5 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

Asked whether he would countenance a return to Newcastle if one of the consortia clamouring to take over approached him, Keegan said it was unlikely – but he stopped short of

completely ruling it out. “I don’t think it’s on to return back there now, I think the fans have had enough of that but you never know in football,” he said. “I’d like to think there’s still something left in me in football but we’ll see.”

Keegan felt that the panel’s decision was “fair” and said that he could never work in a structure where players were forced on him. “The panel were very fair, they made a judgement, he said.

“It would have been better if it never happened, I was still at Newcastle and we were still in the Premiership. And I think we would have been.

“What happened to me was wrong because I was promised something and it wasn’t delivered and that’s why we ended up winning the case. But every club is different. They know on the continent they’re not going to have the power to sign players and sell players but that’s not really the case in England.

“You can’t have a player forced on you for a lot of reasons. If a player is forced on you, and he’s there for the wrong reasons, he’s coming thinking he’s going to play.

“He’s not happy to be in the reserves and not play. That’s a lot of fundamental issues that are very important from a football point of view. Forget business and commercial deals.”

Meanwhile, The Journal understands there is fresh optimism at St James’s that Barry Moat’s takeover could be completed by the end of the month.

The Keegan verdict, and the size of any compensation payout, was seen as a major obstacle to Moat’s intentions.