'A blessing' - Steve Howey explains his gratitude to Kevin Keegan after Newcastle United legend passes away

Former Newcastle United defender Steve Howey has described Kevin Keegan as ‘a wonderful, wonderful person’ after one of the most important figures in the club’s long and proud history sadly passed away on Monday.

Keegan won a place in the hearts of Magpies supporters across the world when he brought down the curtain on his playing career at St James Park and guided their side back into English football’s top tier in 1984. Much to the surprise of many, the former England captain returned to Tyneside eight years later when he was named as successor to Ossie Ardiles as Newcastle manager with the club facing relegation into the third tier for the first time.

Relegation was avoided on the final day of the season and that set the tone for one of the most fondly remembered periods in in the club’s history as Keegan’s Entertainers side captured the imagination with a swashbuckling style of attacking play. Howey was part of the United squad throughout Keegan’s initial five-year reign - and he described working under the two-time Balon D’or winner as ‘a blessing’.

He told Sky Sports: “Even before this bad news, if you were talking about Kevin Keegan, nobody would have a bad word to say about him. Watching some of the videos that have been put up about him, Newcastle did one, Sky have done a couple of bits and pieces, you get very emotional watching them because he was different, he was Kevin Keegan. He never changed, he was always the same. He was a wonderful, wonderful person. Me, everybody, to work with him everyday, especially for that length of time, both at Newcastle and Manchester City, every day was a blessing because he was just so, so good.”

‘We pushed the best of the best’

Howey was part of the Magpies squad that pushed Manchester United all of the way in a memorable Premier League title race during the 1995/96 Premier League season. Keegan’s men held a 12 point lead in the season before an unrelenting run of form from the Red Devils saw the trophy head to Old Trafford on the final day of the campaign. Although the Magpies drew criticism for their attacking style of play and for dropping points in key games, Howey insisted Keegan ‘didn’t want it any other way’ as he set out his team to entertain supporters throughout his time in charge.

He said: “Whilst I was upset, I was also thinking about the different things. You can’t help but smile at the memories we shared, me personally with him, but also as the group. You’ve just had Sir Alex on as a well and that particular time, we pushed the best of the best to the very end. It would have been a perfect season if we managed to win it that year - but Kevin didn’t want it any other way. He wanted us to play that way.”

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