Sports Poets Society

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...

EAMONN MCCABE/THE GUARDIAN Kevin Keegan scores for England against Scotland at Wembley in 1979 The former England manager may be remembered by many for his ‘I’d love it’ rant, but he was also a footballing pioneer and bona fide superstar. Keegan was arguably the most charismatic modern English footballer, with a rare gift for inspiring and uplifting players A career like no other Farewell to a footballing pioneer and a superstar It was a major shock to Keegan when Bill Shankly told him:  ‘You’re not just a great player – you’re one of the great players’ Keegan, still England captain, learned from the press he had been ‘dumped’.  He felt ‘betrayed, hurt and humiliated’ 21 Jul 2026 - The Guardian By Rob Draper Kevin Keegan, who has died aged 75, is the only British player to win the Ballon d’Or twice , was the star of Liverpool’s first European Cup-winning team, a messianic figure at Newcastle United as a player and coach, forging a team so memorable that FIFA’s president wrote ...

Kevin Keegan en 1973, célébrant le titre de Liverpool en Coupe  de  l’UEFA  aux dépens du Borussia Mönchengladbach (3-2 en cumulé). KEEGAN, BALLOND’OR DUPEUPLE Mort d’un cancer hier à l’âge de 75 ans, Kevin Keegan aura remporté deux fois le Ballon d’Or, en 1978 et en 1979, avant de devenir entraîneur de Newcastle et de l’Angleterre, notamment. "Ce n’est pas un job pour moi,  je n’ai pas le niveau"    - KEVIN KEEGAN, APRÈS SA DÉMISSION DU       POSTE DE SÉLECTIONNEUR DE L’ANGLETERRE 21 Jul 2026 - L'Équipe VINCENT DULUC À cause de lui, les enfants s’appelaient Kevin, et c’était bien avant les Feux de l’amour. Il était Kevin Keegan, un attaquant magnétique, né à la gloire avec Liverpool, et décédé d’un cancer à l’âge de 75 ans avec l’escorte de l’affection d’un pays et de quelques villes. Au mois de mai, il n’avait pas caché que la fin était proche, dans une dernière apparition publique à Newcastle, la ville qui en avait fait un h...

FOTO ACTION IMAGES/CRAIG BROUGH  Een fan van Southampton toont een tak met een knipoog naar ‘Spygate’ waarbij  een stagiair van de club achter een boom concurrent Middlesbrough bespioneerde. Nadat de stagiair achter een boom werd betrapt, sloot de bond Southampton uit van deelname aan finale play-offs. De ‘spion’ werd betrapt, sloeg vergeefs op de vlucht, want al op de foto 22 May 2026 - NRC Sam de Jongh  AMSTERDAM - Verstopt achter een pijnboom, aan de rand van het trainingscomplex van Middlesbrough, staat William Salt . De stagiair van het analyseteam van Southampton, met AirPods in zijn oren en een telefoon in zijn hand, heeft een missie: heimelijk de training opnemen van de tegenstander. Met die beelden moet de technische staf van zijn club meer te weten komen van de tactiek van Middlesbrough, in aanloop naar de belangrijke wedstrijd in de play-offs om promotie, om Premier Leaguevoetbal. Salt faalt; hij wordt betrapt. Hij slaat via een nabijgelegen golfterrein nog op ...

Peter Osgood (left) challenges Manchester United's Stewart Houston COLORSPORT Southampton are back at Wembley today, almost exactly 50 years after the greatest day in their history ‘In living memory it was a one-off.  The atmosphere around the city built and built and built’ 25 Apr 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport Rob Smyth Two years ago, when sixth-tier Maidstone won at Ipswich to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time, their manager, George Elokobi , distilled the unique, enduring impact of an FA Cup giantkilling into five syllables: “This binds us for life.” The same bond, only even more powerful, will be in evidence on the south coast in the next week. All connected with Southampton hope to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their only FA Cup final triumph having reached another final. There are cosmetic parallels between Southampton’s semi-final against Manchester City and the euphoric win over Manchester United in the 1976 final . Fifty years ago, Southampton were ...