Sports Poets Society

Daniel Chesterton/ Offside/Offside via Getty Images Jubilation:  The PIF-led takeover five years ago was met with joy and relief by many Newcastle United fans. Fans danced in the streets after PIF took over from Mike Ashley, but the future at St James’ Park looks as uncertain as ever, writes Greg Lea 11 Oct 2026 - THE OBSERVER / Sport Greg Lea They flocked in their thousands to St James’ Park, that hallowed cathedral on the hill, a sea of black and white. Some wore thawbs and shemaghs, traditional Saudi dress; others waved the Gulf state’s flag. Truer to local form, still others were shirtless, answering the rallying cry on social media – #cans – with gusto. It was 7 October 2021 and Newcastle United fans had something to celebrate. Their club was in the relegation zone but it did not matter. Not right now. Newcastle had been bought by a consortium dominated by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), ending Mike Ashley’s miserable 14-year tenure. (Sports Direct signs were soon...

Work ethic of ‘Wor Jackie’ set Milburn apart New book details Tyneside legend’s upbringing in Ashington, his shyness and a work ethic that set him apart ‘If you ever walked through Newcastle with him, you got stopped every two minutes’ 10 Aug 2026 - The Guardian Dan Jackson Of all the footballers who have worn the black and white, that possessive geordie pronoun “Wor” (our) was unique to Jackie Milburn ; for he was a man of the people as much as he was a great sportsman. In that respect, his birthplace of Ashington in Northumberland only added to the mythology. “The biggest pit village in the world,” as it was known, was the north-east in microcosm – a one-horse coal town where miles of identical terraced houses spread out from the pitheads and the men were obsessed by whippets, leeks, association football and pints. Nevertheless, he had a self-discipline that saw the pitfalls of alcohol: “Certainly it prevented my dad, Alec Milburn , from making the big time,” Jackie recalled. “He cou...

Steve Powell/Allsport/ Getty Images - Three’s a charm:  Keegan celebrates the third goal 3-1 British (Home) Championship matchin 1979. The outstanding achievements of a remarkable player and manager, for club and country, far outweighed his occasional failures. Just ask the supporters at Newcastle, Liverpool and Hamburg Dismissiveness went so far, it obscured a life of achievement few great sports people could have any hope of emulating 26 Jul 2026 - THE OBSERVER / Sport Paul Hayward Whenever a star has to die for us to fully appreciate how special they were, the problem is us, not them. With Kevin Keegan, some landmark disappointments in a 40-year career of playing and managing fell away to allow the real story of his character and accomplishments its rightful glow. In great sporting lives the departed dwelt in a binary world of good, bad, won, lost, veneration, scorn. It’s odd to think now, after Keegan was waved off last week with so much respect and warmth, that there were poin...

Image source, BBC SportImage caption,  Kevin Keegan is arguably the most  beloved figure in Newcastle United's history for his deeds as player and manager https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c20z4d87vp3o By  Phil McNulty Chief football writer Published 20 July 2026 Kevin Keegan, who has died aged 75 , was one of football's most charismatic and influential figures in a career of many chapters that took him from superstar player to elite manager. While some may remember him best for his ill-fated reign as England manager, he will rightly be much more celebrated as a world-class player at Liverpool and Hamburg, captaining England, and shining latterly at Southampton and Newcastle United , before becoming arguably the most beloved figure in the Tyneside club's history. Keegan revived Newcastle 's fortunes as a player before carrying the Geordie nation with him on a thrilling ride as manager, first by taking the club back into the top flight, then delivering a magni...

HULTON ARCHIVE/PA/REUTERS/GETTY IMAGES " There was no legal way of stopping him! " 21 Jul 2026 - Daily Mail By GRAEME SOUNESS Keegan’s rival and great friend IF you wanted an example of a man who became a superstar but never changed as a man, Kevin Keegan would be top of that list. For everything he achieved in the game — the trophies, two Ballons d’or — his greatest quality was the humility he carried with him through every waking moment. He treated every person he met in the same way: with utmost respect. To say he was an absolute gentleman seems an understatement. He was a class act. This was a genuine superstar. If only you could bottle the attitude he had and sell it to the players today. I was in a restaurant not so long ago when I witnessed a young player, a so-called star, refuse to do a selfie with a fan. That was the absolute polar opposite to Kevin. Kevin Keegan was a genuinely humble man who recognised he had got lucky in life, but boy did he make the most out of ...

TRINITY MIRROR/ ALAMY Keegan on the pitch for Newcastle United against Cambridge United in 1984 One of football’s greats who played for Liverpool,  Newcastle and England, later managing the national side "I was the mongrel who made it to Crufts,  and that was fine by me" Richard Williams 21 Jul 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Journal The apotheosis of Kevin Keegan, who has died aged 75 of cancer, came in the minutes after his final appearance as a professional footballer, while wearing the black and white stripes of Newcastle United, the club of his heart. On 17 May 1984, at the end of a friendly against Liverpool, with whom he had achieved his early fame, a helicopter landed on the pitch at St James’ Park and carried him away, still in his full kit, borne aloft by the cheering of 36,000 home fans, many of them moved to tears by his departure. Such displays of emotion were seldom far away during a playing career that took the son of a Yorkshire coalminer from an apprenticeship at Scunt...

DANNY BRANNIGAN/HULTON ARCHIVE ‘Special K’ made the club more exciting in his playing and managerial stints and ‘wanted to stay for ever’ Keegan’s father told him about the exploits of Hughie Gallacher and Jackie Milburn 21 Jul 2026 - The Guardian Louise Taylor The story of Kevin Keegan and Newcastle United is perhaps best described as a three-act play. It involves an enduring and mutual love affair that brings joyous seasons in the sun punctuated by boardroom tensions and tearstained exits. Newcastle fans swiftly identified Keegan as a player and then, twice, a manager capable of switching the lights on at St James’ Park. “Special K” made everything about the club seem more vivid and exciting. To watch his 1990s “Entertainers” was to feel truly alive. When Keegan joined from Southampton in 1982, he was in the latter stages of a highly distinguished playing career. Newcastle were then unwilling residents of the Second Division but once the two-time Ballon d’Or winner walked through the...