Premier League Christmas advent calendar – December 21: Kevin Keegan loses the plot on live TV
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YOU knew Newcastle’s title challenge in 1995/96 was on the ropes when their manager Kevin Keegan self-combusted live on television.
After title rivals Manchester United had defeated a stubborn 10-man Leeds United at Old Trafford on April 17, United boss Alex Ferguson had publicly questioned why some teams and players always seemed to try harder against his side, suggesting that Nottingham Forest, one of Newcastle’s upcoming opponents, may give the Magpies an easy ride too.
It was a comment that enraged his Newcastle counterpart Keegan who, after a 1-0 win over Leeds on April 29, vented his anger live in post-match television interview.
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“When you do that with footballers like he said about Leeds, and when you do things like that about a man like Stuart Pearce... I've kept really quiet but I'll tell you something, he [Ferguson] went down in my estimations when he said that. We have not resorted to that. You can tell him now, we're still fighting for this title and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something.
“And I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it.”
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Meanwhile at Old Trafford…
“Watching that game, we all came in the next day to training and we were all laughing about it,” recalls David Beckham. “We were young but even as players, we knew we’d got to Kevin and Newcastle.
“I love Kevin, I think he’s a great manager, a really amazing person, but you could tell he felt so strongly about what the manager had been doing, but we came into training and knew we’d won the league by then.”