Shaun Goater and Kevin Keegan celebrate Manchester City getting promoted in 2002
Shaun Goater and Kevin Keegan celebrate Manchester City getting promoted in 2002
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It hadn't meant to end as it did for Manchester City and Joe Royle. A dream pairing had seen the Blues catapulted all the way back to the Premiership from the third division, complete with one of the most dramatic comebacks supporters will see against Gillingham at Wembley.
But, with City tumbling back out of the top flight, the club had to part ways with Royle in 2001 and the board found themselves at another critical junction. Get the next appointment right and they would be back where they wanted to be, but get it wrong and there could be a return to the football wilderness.
Coming in from the cold was Kevin Keegan, the great entertainer from Newcastle United who had been burnt with England. One of the finest players of his generation, his coaching career had also reached the heights but resigning in the toilets at Wembley in 2000 had knocked him out of the spotlight.
A step down for Keegan to the second division ended up being a huge step up for City. Blues feasted on another promotion-winning season stuffed with goals and players such as Ali Benarbia and Eyal Berkovic delighted a Maine Road crowd that had come alive again.
On returning to the top division, the feelgood factor around the club and Keegan's star quality allowed the Blues to attract a new calibre of player. Nicolas Anelka, Sylvain Distin, Robbie Fowler, Marc Vivien Foe and Peter Schmeichel all signed ahead of the second year to show that City were serious about not just surviving but competing in the Premiership.
A ninth-placed finish, and European qualification via the fair play standings, had City back in the big leagues and Keegan was in charge to lead the team into the new City of Manchester Stadium with a showpiece game against Barcelona. The former Newcastle man had guided the Blues to where they wanted to be again.
That was as good as it got for Keegan at City and he would leave the club in 2005 with no plans to manage again. While City are not the club that Keegan is most associated with, he was loved by the City players for how he treated them, and by the fans for what he gave to them.
City great Dennis Tueart was a board member who had known Keegan from their playing days and helped to appoint him. He spoke in 2021 about how fans still tell him their fond memories of the football that Keegan produced at the club.
“We wouldn’t have got players like Peter Schmeichel, Nicolas Anelka, Ali Benarbia, Eyal Berkovic – we wouldn’t have got those quality players without Kevin Keegan," he said. “All of a sudden, we were flying again.
“I always remember when we got promoted. I speak to supporters now at branch meetings and they always remember that year with Kevin Keegan in the Championship. It was just fantastic. We scored 100 goals, I think it was and the atmosphere was just phenomenal.
“We went in there and I always remember we played Barcelona in a friendly game here – 34,000 in the new stadium because it was a test event so we couldn’t go to full capacity. And we just looked round the stadium – Barcelona walking out at the Etihad - and everyone’s got blue shirts in the stadium. And I thought, that’s where we should be.”