Comment on Kevin Keegan: the Messiah of Newcastle by Premier League 95/96: the short-lived rivalry between Newcastle and Manchester United - The Corner

In 1991, Newcastle straddled the abyss. It is almost unthinkable for a club of its immense stature and tradition to be bottoming out in the Second Division, looking anxiously over its shoulders at the third tier of English football and sliding completely out of the sport's consciousness. Football itself was a point of depression for the Toon Army. Under Ossie Ardiles the team were desperately out of ideas on the pitch and fans left St James' Park most Saturday afternoons confused and exasperated.

There was even more consternation in the meeting room, a grim situation that reflected the suffering of the players. The club was bleeding money at an alarming rate and the only messages coming from the hierarchy were angry rumblings which failed to hide the deepening crisis at the club. Enough was enough. That was the consensus sentiment on Tyneside. This sentiment was also shared by Sir John Hall, an entrepreneur and property magnate who decided the apocalypse was near and he was the man who could oversee a reversal of fortune.

Hall, going through the other end of a bitter battle with former owner Gordon McKeag, bought 79.2% of Newcastle United for around £3million and pledged to propel the club to better days. One of his first big decisions was to sack Ardiles. The Argentinian had dug himself an inescapable hole with the results he produced.

The vision of the former World Cup winner might perhaps be admired, but he became the main victim of a drastic change of the guard at Newcastle United. He placed his faith in young talent such as Lee Clark, Steve Howey, Steve Watson and Alan Thompson and built a long-term philosophy. However, while Hall was desperate to stage an immediate revival, Ardiles was never going to be given the time he needed to really build.

Ardiles was sacked after losing 5-2 to Oxford United in a result that condemned the Geordies to bottom in the Second Division. The hot managerial seat at St James' Park was long seen as a poisoned gift, but Hall was determined to transform that image and restore trust within the club. The answer was Kevin Keegan. A bold and sensational appointment, the Newcastle hierarchy pulled Keegan out of the cold - he had been out of football since retiring eight years earlier - and tasked him with the task of rejuvenating the club.

The announcement of the former Liverpool and Newcastle player has drawn a big reaction from fans. Was he the man who was finally reviving the club's glory years? Amid the excitement that Keegan was returning to football, however, there was deep trepidation. He was a man, after all, who had no managerial or coaching experience and who had always played down the possibility of him becoming a great leader from the sidelines. How could Tyneside, given their incessant injuries at the time, believe Keegan was the man for the job? They quickly discovered it in an emphatic style. In Keegan's first game in charge he drew 30,000 fans to the stadium for a 3-0 win over Bristol City and with that the genesis of the 'Geordie Messiah' was laid.

Keegan's months of training in charge were far from smooth but, aided by assistant Terry McDermott, Keegan got the job done and saved the club from relegation by four points after won their last two games. Their last game was a last-minute victory over Leicester City, a performance which gave a first indication of the drama and excitement in the years to come.

The following season, Keegan really began to captivate the Toon army, surely leading them to a comfortable promotion to the b...