Football Special Edition- Part 7: Liverpool’s Best Strikers
Kevin Keegan: Kevin Keegan came when Liverpool was under the rule of the legendary Bill Shankly and out of that era Kevin Keegan is considered one of the best signings of Liverpool of that time.
Shankly bagged Keegan from Scunthorpe United’s first team and Keegan scored eighteen goals in a hundred and twenty four games while playing for Liverpool.
Bill Shankly handed the player thirty five thousand pounds for a transfer to ‘The Reds’ in 1971 when Keegan was only twenty years old.
Keegan made his debut for the club in a match against Nottingham Forest while playing at their own home Anfield and Keegan scored just after twelve minutes into the game.
Even though Keegan was originally signed as a mid-fielder for the team, his finishing abilities and his expertise in capturing and then delivering the ball seemably became eminent to Bill Shankly.
Soon after being noticed the boss deployed the player upfront as a partner to John Toshack. Keegan won his first domestic honour in 1973 playing by John Toshack’s side as they helped Liverpool win their first League Championship and the UEFA Cup after a period of seven years.
Keegan actually netted the ball twice in the first leg of the final and Liverpool came out victorious against Borussia Mönchengladbach with the score board reading three to two at the end of the match.
In the 1974 FA Cup final Keegan scored twice and they beat Newcastle United with a score of three to nil. This was the first brace in an FA Cup ever since the time of Mike Trebilcock, when he scored twice against Everton in 1966.
In 1977 Kevin Keegan played a major role in trying to achieve Liverpool’s unpredicted “treble” Keegan played major parts in all the League championships, to the European Cup matches and the FA Cup. Though around mid season the player did officially announce that he plans to leave after the summer to play in other countries.
Still Keegan proved himself when he reached the finals and then won the matches in all two of these competitions and Keegan’s last appearance for ‘The Reds’ on his own home soil was when Liverpool lost the FA Cup final cup to Manchester United and this ended ‘The Reds’ dreams of achieving the treble.
Keegan was also a part of the European Cup Final that was played Rome against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Keegan did not score here though he did add with a late run that turned out to become a foul that gave the penalty for the win. This Penalty was taken by Phil Neal and the game ended with a score of three to one.
Kevin Keegan made three hundred and twenty three appearances and scored exactly a hundred goals and then left Liverpool in the summer as he had announced before.
Keegan got offers from all over Europe and finally joined Hamburg SV in the West German Bundesliga for a transfer fee of five hundred thousand pounds and then Liverpool replaced this star player with another rising star, Kenny Dalgish.
Almost after eight years after Keegan played his last game he returned to the football fields but came back as a manager this time, starting with Newcastle United, then Fulham then the English national team and then the last one was Manchester City.
He was out of football for almost three years then returned for a period of eight months; first he returned to Newcastle United and then Manchester City and then resigned from the position.
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