If you’re building a Newcastle United version of Mount Rushmore - Kevin Keegan is absolutely on it. Rest in peace to one of the club’s all-time greats.

He came to St James’ Park as a player before leaving - via helicopter - as a legend. He answered the call again as a manager - and bowed out a second time as a king.

Kevin Keegan is a bona fide, undisputed Newcastle United icon. Tyneside mourns the man who shaped the modern club that stands on Strawberry Place today.

Just weeks ago, he greeted hundreds of excited Toon fans desperate to hear one last charismatic tale from the great man. Diagnosed with stage-four cancer, no illness was going to deny him the chance of an emotional encore with an excited black-and-white audience. Even in those final moments, Keegan remained black and white to his core.

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Tributes from every corner of the Newcastle landscape are pouring in for the former player and manager. When news of his cancer broke in January, St James' Park responded in the only way it knew how - with a chaotic, exhilarating 4-3 victory over Leeds United. It felt fitting. The modern-day heroes evoked the spirit of Keegan’s Entertainers.

For without Keegan, the Newcastle we know today does not exist. Twice he saved the Magpies. First as a player, when Newcastle fans could not quite believe that England’s captain just months earlier wanted to join their Second Division struggle.

Citing his roots as inspiration - his father Joe was a North East native and fervent Newcastle fan - Keegan helped drag the club back into the big time. An eight-year hiatus followed. For all intents and purposes, the Ballon d’Or winner of 1978 and 1979 was done with professional football.

One phone call from Sir John Hall changed everything.

Abandoning his sunny Spanish idyll, Keegan came to Newcastle’s rescue. And what a journey they went on.

Joining a club in dire straits, the Magpies were staring down the abyss of third-tier football. Four years later, he came within a whisker of Premier League glory. Keegan made an entire region believe.

An attacking brand of football - supercharged by their manager’s charm and charisma - took English football by storm. A bitter fallout with the Mike Ashley ownership did not blemish his relationship with the fans - it only emboldened their adulation.

Even from afar, Keegan reassured supporters that one day they will get their club back. His comments served as an emphatic battle cry to a city on its knees. The messiah revealed himself in different forms throughout many hours of Newcastle need.

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Now is the time for Newcastle to pay a tangible tribute. A statue would be fitting. A stand bearing his name? Undoubtedly deserved. But Keegan's greatest monument already exists.

It is the football club he rescued twice. The generations of supporters he taught to believe again. The roar inside St James' Park that still carries the spirit of his side.

He arrived as a player. He returned as a manager. He leaves us all as something greater. Kevin Keegan was the man who put Newcastle United back on the map. Rest in peace, King.

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