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Keegan: The Man Who Was King
A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, FT AND IRISH TIMES
'A marvellous tribute to one of the great characters of English football.' The Times
From the author of Klopp, a funny and insightful look at one of Britain's greatest and strangest football greats.
He was stranger than he knew - than any of us knew.
England captain. Mercurial competitor. Pop star manqué. The Face of Brut 33. Pioneer of the footballers' perm. Twice winner of the Ballon d'Or. Kevin Keegan owned the 1970s. We had never seen his like before. There appeared to be nothing he could fail at.
Tracking his career from youth-team player at Scunthorpe to the England manager's job, by way of Liverpool, Newcastle and Hamburg, Keegan considers the extravagant highs of a football man who touched the game with genius, who was never sacked and who came within an ace of triumph as a manager. A story of almost and maybe, of excellence and of failure, it is a story too, perhaps, of the fans' quixotic search for a messiah.
Praise for
'An elegiac memoir [and] a love letter to the great man himself.' The Times
'Delightful . . . perfectly captures the man's endearing likeability.' Mail on Sunday
'A marvellous tribute to one of the great characters of English football.' The Times
From the author of Klopp, a funny and insightful look at one of Britain's greatest and strangest football greats.
He was stranger than he knew - than any of us knew.
England captain. Mercurial competitor. Pop star manqué. The Face of Brut 33. Pioneer of the footballers' perm. Twice winner of the Ballon d'Or. Kevin Keegan owned the 1970s. We had never seen his like before. There appeared to be nothing he could fail at.
Tracking his career from youth-team player at Scunthorpe to the England manager's job, by way of Liverpool, Newcastle and Hamburg, Keegan considers the extravagant highs of a football man who touched the game with genius, who was never sacked and who came within an ace of triumph as a manager. A story of almost and maybe, of excellence and of failure, it is a story too, perhaps, of the fans' quixotic search for a messiah.
Praise for
'An elegiac memoir [and] a love letter to the great man himself.' The Times
'Delightful . . . perfectly captures the man's endearing likeability.' Mail on Sunday
- GenresFootball
162 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 26, 2025
5 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Quinn
43 books58 followersThis is the disambiguation profile for otherwise unseparated authors publishing as Anthony Quinn
See also:
Anthony Quinn, author of the Inspector Celcius Daly series
Anthony Quinn, author of Curtain Call, and other biographies.
See also:
Anthony Quinn, author of the Inspector Celcius Daly series
Anthony Quinn, author of Curtain Call, and other biographies.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 23, 2025
This was not a good read especially coming after the excellent "Inside" by Boris Becker, as it lacked the voice of the man being written about. Anthony Quinn declares that he has never met Kevin Keegan and any request for an interview would likely have been turned down. This slight (how do you know if you didn't ask) betrays a negative thread that resurfaces at several times.
Not very enjoyable, and faux-literary too. Were quotes from T S Eliot and Samuel Beckett etc really necessary?
I needed more chronological order, as it skipped about a bit.
Not very enjoyable, and faux-literary too. Were quotes from T S Eliot and Samuel Beckett etc really necessary?
I needed more chronological order, as it skipped about a bit.
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August 14, 2025Keegan – Anthony Quinn
A legend in Liverpool, messiah in Newcastle, mighty maus in Hamburg, talismanic leader in Southampton. Quite the career for a man who first kicked a football professionally with lowly Scunthorpe United.
This biography is written from a fan’s perspective with no direct input from its subject. Consequently, it gives Anthony Quinn licence to chart Keegan’s stellar progression, but also to proffer opinions on the man’s character, his strengths and vulnerabilities, the latter much more exposed once he moved into management.
It will appeal to sports fans, but it also makes perceptive observations about building and managing successful teams in any walk of life (explosive players are great, yet the ones who can do bomb disposal are just as important) as well as highlighting the huge change over the past 50 years in societal attitudes and expectations (the wages and transfer fees of the 1970s were a mere bagatelle compared with today’s media rights inflated riches).
On the pitch Keegan’s assets were his spontaneity, dynamism and ability to galvanise teammates through sheer willpower. Off it, Quinn paints Keegan as an astute dealmaker who knew his own value, a lucrative talent when switching clubs. But Quinn also notes Keegan wore his heart firmly on his sleeve. A trait endearing to supporters, but all too readily exploited by opposing managers’ mind games (Keegan will be forever haunted by one ill-advised televised rant), and unscrupulous club owners who measured success on the balance sheet not the league table.
Quinn reaches a fascinating conclusion. As in most businesses, a great doer doesn’t automatically make a great manager. Instead, Keegan’s charisma, which instilled trust in players, allied with his uncanny knack of driving hard bargains, would have made him an agent par excellence. But agents are often viewed as pariahs, and Keegan had an endless desire to be loved.
Idol of the Kop, permed mop, national manager flop, money driven nonstop. Anthony Quinn’s respectful yet contentious account of a uniquely flamboyant character in British sport is published on 28th August.
A legend in Liverpool, messiah in Newcastle, mighty maus in Hamburg, talismanic leader in Southampton. Quite the career for a man who first kicked a football professionally with lowly Scunthorpe United.
This biography is written from a fan’s perspective with no direct input from its subject. Consequently, it gives Anthony Quinn licence to chart Keegan’s stellar progression, but also to proffer opinions on the man’s character, his strengths and vulnerabilities, the latter much more exposed once he moved into management.
It will appeal to sports fans, but it also makes perceptive observations about building and managing successful teams in any walk of life (explosive players are great, yet the ones who can do bomb disposal are just as important) as well as highlighting the huge change over the past 50 years in societal attitudes and expectations (the wages and transfer fees of the 1970s were a mere bagatelle compared with today’s media rights inflated riches).
On the pitch Keegan’s assets were his spontaneity, dynamism and ability to galvanise teammates through sheer willpower. Off it, Quinn paints Keegan as an astute dealmaker who knew his own value, a lucrative talent when switching clubs. But Quinn also notes Keegan wore his heart firmly on his sleeve. A trait endearing to supporters, but all too readily exploited by opposing managers’ mind games (Keegan will be forever haunted by one ill-advised televised rant), and unscrupulous club owners who measured success on the balance sheet not the league table.
Quinn reaches a fascinating conclusion. As in most businesses, a great doer doesn’t automatically make a great manager. Instead, Keegan’s charisma, which instilled trust in players, allied with his uncanny knack of driving hard bargains, would have made him an agent par excellence. But agents are often viewed as pariahs, and Keegan had an endless desire to be loved.
Idol of the Kop, permed mop, national manager flop, money driven nonstop. Anthony Quinn’s respectful yet contentious account of a uniquely flamboyant character in British sport is published on 28th August.
December 30, 2025
Poor.
Just buy Kevin Keegan's 2018 autobiography. That gives you all the information you need.
This book just skims over cherry picked bits of information. Get the impression the author has just churned this out for no real reason with no real passion, interest or knowledge of the subject.
Save your money and avoid
Just buy Kevin Keegan's 2018 autobiography. That gives you all the information you need.
This book just skims over cherry picked bits of information. Get the impression the author has just churned this out for no real reason with no real passion, interest or knowledge of the subject.
Save your money and avoid
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews