\u201cThe former England player and manager had been battling cancer and was surrounded by his wife and daughters in his final moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saluting Keegan\u2019s trophy-filled spell at Anfield, Liverpool said: \u201cWe are deeply saddened by the passing of the legendary Kevin Keegan and mourn his loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis indomitable spirit and remarkable contribution will be forever etched in our history and his legacy will live on. Rest in peace, Kevin.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Football Association, posting on the official England X account, said it was \u201cincredibly saddened\u201d by Keegan\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Prince William, the Patron of the FA, said: \u201cIncredibly saddened to hear of the passing of Kevin Keegan.<\/p>\n
\u201cA truly remarkable footballer and manager who inspired generations with his talent, passion and love of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Prime Minister and Newcastle fan Tony Blair praised Keegan, saying: \u201cKevin inspired everyone he met, including me. He was just a thoroughly decent man with a strong sense of values and a belief, not only in the game of football, but also in Britain as a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keegan, a dynamic striker nicknamed \u201cmighty mouse\u201d, won the English top-flight title three times with Liverpool after starting his legendary career with lowly Scunthorpe.<\/p>\n
He also won the European Cup in 1977 and the FA Cup in 1974 during an iconic six-year spell on Merseyside before joining German club Hamburg in 1977.<\/p>\n
Keegan, who scored 21 goals in 63 games for England, won the Bundesliga title with Hamburg in 1979 and helped them reach the European Cup final the following year.<\/p>\n
He was voted the European Player of the Year in 1978 and 1979.<\/p>\n
\u201cRest in peace, \u2018Mighty Mouse\u2019,\u201d Hamburg said as they hailed the \u201cEnglish football icon\u201d.<\/p>\n
Keegan returned to England to play for Southampton and Newcastle, retiring in 1984 after starring in the Magpies\u2019 promotion to the top tier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are devastated to learn of the passing of Kevin Keegan, one of the most iconic, influential and deeply-loved figures in our club\u2019s history,\u201d Newcastle said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cKevin was more than a legendary footballer and manager. He was the beating heart of Newcastle United for generations of supporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cKevin gave supporters hope and pride, and led a team whose style, spirit and passion captured the imagination of football fans around the world. He was so much more than an entertainer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning to management in 1992, he led Newcastle to promotion to the Premier League in 1993.<\/p>\n
Keegan established them as a force in the top-flight, dubbed \u201cthe entertainers\u201d as they finished runners-up to Manchester United after blowing a big lead in the 1995-96 title race.<\/p>\n
His clashes with United manager Alex Ferguson \u2013 including his famous \u201cI\u2019d love it if we beat them\u201d rant \u2013 took a toll on Keegan, who eventually resigned in 1997.<\/p>\n
He went on to manage Fulham before taking charge of England in a turbulent spell from 1999 to 2000, quitting the role of national team boss just hours after a 1-0 defeat against Germany at Wembley.<\/p>\n
England had failed to make it out of the group stage at Euro 2000 during Keegan\u2019s reign.<\/p>\n
Keegan also spent four years as Manchester City manager before finishing his managerial career with a brief return to Newcastle in 2008.<\/p>\n
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said: \u201cRIP Kevin Keegan. One of the greatest players this country has ever produced, trophies and goals galore, double Ballon d\u2019Or winner shows he was an absolute giant of the English game.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the most important men in making Liverpool what it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Newcastle and England striker Alan Shearer, who played under Keegan for club and country, paid an emotional tribute to his idol.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Hero. My manager. My friend. Sleep easy Boss,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
– AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe former England player and manager had been battling cancer and was surrounded by his wife and daughters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85710,74,18919,696,3221,2534,6179,7126,1634,2109,5213,2082,2740,78,264108,61092,3223,52167,111,139,69,21522,213,2737,1865,10140],"class_list":["post-535758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-85710","tag-after","tag-aged","tag-announced","tag-battling","tag-cancer","tag-died","tag-dies","tag-england","tag-family","tag-football","tag-for","tag-former","tag-in","tag-keegan","tag-kevin","tag-legend","tag-liverpool","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pour","tag-sports","tag-star","tag-today","tag-tributes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}