Leeds United scouts once went to watch Keegan - he would ultimately come back to score double figures against the club in later years
16:26, 20 Jul 2026Updated 16:31, 20 Jul 2026
Former England manager and Liverpool playing great Kevin Keegan has died at the age of 75 after a battle with cancer.
Doncaster-born Keegan, who won two Ballon d’Or trophies, revealed in January he was suffering from cancer and in June disclosed that it was stage four status.
A family statement said he passed away “surrounded by his wife and daughters in his final moments.”
Keegan won three English titles and a European Cup among many accolades at Anfield, making 323 appearances and scoring 100 goals. He also won the German crown with Hamburg in 1979.
Keegan would go on to manage Newcastle United for seven years between 1992 and 1997, as well as a brief stint in 2008. He won the 1992/93 second tier title at St James’ Park in his first full season.
It was also during his first reign with the Magpies that he delivered his famous ‘I’d love it’ post-match interview after beating Leeds United at Elland Road in 1996, during a close-cut but ill-fated title race with Manchester United.
Leeds were the team Keegan faced most during his playing career, winning 17 of his 25 meetings against the Whites - including the 1974 Charity Shield final, in which he was sent off after an hour for an altercation with Billy Bremner. He scored 10 goals against Leeds in all.
Keegan visited Elland Road in 2021 as an ambassador for Leeds-based workforce technology company BigChange. “When I come here it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up because of so many great memories,” he reflected.
“When you looked at the Leeds side, it was just full of international class players. [In the tunnel] I was always looking to see where Norman [Hunter] was, and whether he’d got big studs on, ready to sort me out.”
He added: “My dad used to come and watch me when I played at Leeds because he only lived up the road at Doncaster.
“The thing that really gets me is if I start to look at the names on the stands. Don Revie, who was my manager with England, he was the biggest enemy in the world when we played Leeds. But when I got to know him, one of the really great people I met in my life.
“You know, the scouts from Leeds came to watch me play and I thought ‘Wow, that would be some move for me’, because obviously I’m from Doncaster, I’m a Yorkshireman, but it never happened. So I had to play against them, which was fantastic.”
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