Book Review: My Life in Football – The Autobiography by Kevin Keegan

Depending on your age, Kevin Keegan is either a Liverpool legend, a Newcastle legend or that guy who called out Sir Alex Ferguson in a live interview that has become the stuff of legend. But whether you think you know Kevin Keegan or not, reading his autobiography will almost certainly make you think again. Not only does it reflect on the early years before his fame and his unconventional route to the top, but it also shows in a starkly frank way the situations Keegan found himself in behind the scenes, especially as a manager, and they make for very interesting reading. He opens up on the characters, clubs and stories behind some of the most iconic moments in his career. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t hold back when he feels there are injustices that need to be accounted for, but, admirably, he’s quick also to acknowledge his own failings. Indeed, if there is one thing that this autobiography is it is honest – often unflinchingly so.

Despite only having been out of management over the last ten years, Keegan’s portrait of the world of football offers a very different vision to the sport we know now, and, especially in respect of the early decades of his career, there is a very clear sense of how times have changed. For those who can’t remember Kevin Keegan’s playing days, the autobiography also serves to highlight his footballing ability – he was the third ever Englishman to win the prestigious Ballon D’or, after legendary figures Stanley Matthews and Bobby Charlton, and the only Englishman to have ever won it twice. In terms of his managerial career, the bulk of this is given to his two spells at Newcastle, including that difficult second period, but the autobiography also recalls his successes, not least securing promotion with Manchester City from the First Division to the Premier League, which in many ways became the springboard for their later successes.

Reading the autobiography gives a very clear picture of who Kevin Keegan is both as a man, a footballer and manager, and just like that infamous interview, it’s apparent he’s lost none of that forthrightness and tenacity.

Jade Craddock