 Thursday, 24th Feb 2011 11:24 The Keegan Years In the summer of 1980 Lawrie McMenemy was one of the highest profile managers in the country, in fact his fame spread a lot further than that, due to the signing of one man Kevin Keegan Apart from Keegan McMenemy only brought in one other signing Mike McCartney a left back to replace David Peach who had left during the previous season, a strange move given that he had been virtually an ever present, had won an England B cap in 79/80 season and was still only 29. But McCartney apart it was an all star squad McMenemy had put together, as shown later in that season when with the return of Alan Ball the side had four men who had captained England in it, but all the flair was going forward and defensively Saints lacked something, in goal Ivan Katalinic was poor and was replaced by Peter wells for most of the season McCartney never settled in what would be his only season at the club playing only 22 times with Nick Holmes mainly filling in the rest of the time. Keegan himself would struggle with injury playing only 27 league games and although for a while in the second half of the season it looked like Saints might get into the top three, a poor mid season run cost them and only a dramatic 3-2 win at ipswich in a rescheduled last game, (fortunately for Saints the game meant nothing to Ipswich as Villa had clinched the title on the Saturday) meant they qualified for Europe in 7th, leapfrogging Forest, 76 goals for was the second highest total in the division, but 56 against was far too many and the biggest of the top nine clubs. Foe 1981/82 hopes were high that Saints could win the league, there was a scare when Man United who had just sacked Dave Sexton tried to lure him to Old Trafford, but the general consensus was that Saints had a better chance of winning something, Allthe talk was that Saints would sign Gordon Strachan from Aberdeen, in the end it Was David Armstrong who arrived to bolster the midfield, ultimately though the season would fade out and the shockwaves would damage the club, Saints would spent most of the season in the top three, indeed they would lead it for longer than any other club, however they would win only three of the last fourteen league games and slump to seventh, the problem was again defence, although only two teams scored more than us, only one conceded less, all of the relegated clubs did so, bottom club Middlesbrough letting in 15 less goals than us. In the dressing room there was much unrest, senior players felt that the club should make a few signings late on to push for the title which gong into March was very much within our grasp, but we didnt, after a 3-0 home defeat to Villa Keegan aparently reacted to McMenemy accusing the team of not trying and the cards were on the table. For once McMenemy's brand of man management was not working and the feeling was that he perhaps just didnt have that extra needed to truly take a team that extra mile. Initially in the close season things looked good, although Mick Channon would be let go on a free in came Peter Shilton, in truth a player the seniors in the squad felt should have been signed in January and would have won Saints the league, but with Shilton signed and season tickets bought then came the bombshell and Keegan was sold to Newcastle on the eve of the season. Many Saints supporters felt cheated, if the row had taken place in April it should have been resolved by August, the feeling was the deal had been tied up months before but Saints wanted money in the bank from season tickets before they announced it, from a feeling of this just might be the season, Saints were plunged into a period of instability. Next...... The Post Keegan Years.
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