Geordie Messiah inspires a sell-out

Louise Taylorreports on how the return of a legend has Newcastle buzzing.

The car horns began hooting shortly after a message on Newcastle United's official website declared: "Geordie Messiah to be unveiled as new manager." Within an hour of yesterday's 4.30pm announcement that Kevin Keegan was returning to Tyneside to take charge of the struggling Premier League club last night's FA Cup third round replay with Stoke City at St James' Park was a sell-out, and the streets around the ground thronged with Geordies talking excitedly into mobile phones.

Some came equipped with hastily home-made banners, one reading "Kevin's back and we're in heaven", and the general chaos was such that the kick-off was delayed. "Having Keegan back is the first building block on what could be a very successful era," insisted Mark Jensen, editor of leading Newcastle fanzine The Maglast night.

In their dressing room Newcastle's players - caught unawares when their previous manager, Sam Allardyce, was unexpectedly sacked late last Wednesday - were said to be "in a state of shock".

It is Keegan's third coming at Newcastle, the former England striker having played for Newcastle during the 1980s and managed the club from 1992-97, when he engineered a promotion to the Premier League before choreographing the most entertaining team in the country. Inspired when attacking, Newcastle were often defensively frail and, during the 1995-96 season blew a 12-point lead at the top of the league, when Manchester United pipped them to the title.

Increasingly, Keegan's charisma was offset by prickliness in the face of pressure - he famously did not relish Alex Ferguson's mind games - and, despite having secured the £15 million signature of another local hero, Alan Shearer, from Blackburn Rovers, he began to feel the strain of fulfilling Geordie expectations.

Tensions arose with the then club owner, John Hall, and few were entirely surprised when a man consistent only in his unpredictability suddenly walked out in 1997, hiding himself away until re-emerging as manager of Fulham.

Stints as manager of England - he resigned in the Wembley toilets following a defeat against Germany - and Manchester City followed. But since leaving City after struggling to transform their fortunes in March 2005, Keegan has distanced himself from football and recently admitted he rarely watched games live any more. Instead he has been running a "Soccer Circus" - a sort of footballing theme park where visitors can have fun while enhancing their skills. In an interview as recently as October, he said he was "unlikely" to return to football management. "I don't think it will happen," he reflected. "My life has gone in a different direction."

Even Alan Oliver, chief sports writer at the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, admitted yesterday: "I never thought Kevin would come back."

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