Gary Neville has paid tribute to former England player and manager Kevin Keegan, who has been diagnosed with cancer.
The 74-year-old affectionately known as ‘King Kev’ remains closely associated with Liverpool and Newcastle after playing for both during an illustrious career and later having two spells as Magpies manager.
He was made England manager in 1999, overseeing the unsuccessful Euro 2000 campaign, and resigned later that year.
Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, Neville - who played under Keegan in that tournament - paid tribute to “a great man” and “great man-manager”.
Newcastle beat Leeds 4-3 in a thriller in their first game since Keegan’s family revealed his diagnosis. The result and performance on an emotional night at St James’ Park were reminiscent of Keegan’s ‘Entertainers’, with manager Eddie Howe leading the tributes afterwards to an “iconic” figure at the club.
Neville said on Thursday: “He was a great man. I always remember thinking of the qualities of Kevin when he was England manager, his honesty, his integrity, his enthusiasm, every single day on the training pitch, about how he wanted players to enjoy themselves and get the very best out of themselves, go forward, play with excitement and thrill.
“You think, Glenn Hoddle had the really good tactical mind, if you combined the two of them you had almost the perfect manager.
“He was a great man-manager, he made players happy, excited, enthused on the training pitch. It felt like he was still a kid that played in the playground as a seven, eight-year-old, it never left him. He always wanted to join in and be part of the training session with the lads.
“That’s how he was as a manager, that’s how his teams played at Newcastle, so exciting. We had some great battles with them [when Neville played for Manchester United]. I wish him all the best.”
