When one analyses what has been going on in Newcastle for the past months it should come as no surprise Kevin Keegan was appointed manager of Newcastle United last week.It is difficult for outsiders to recognise just how important Northern Rock was to locals; it somehow embodied the city of Newcastle. Not only did it employ thousands of people in its HQ in Gorsforth and in the hundreds of branches across the region but it was intrinsically linked to the area through it sponsorship deals of all the leading sports teams in Newcastle not least, of course, Newcastle United FC. When you add in all the thousands of savers Northern Rock had, it is no overstatement to say that the company was an institution in the North East (I was trying to imagine something similar in Yorkshire and I don’t think there is an equivalent – I’m not sure even that if KComm were to disappear from Hull it would have the same resonance).
Given this enormous uncertainty for the people of Newcastle the appointment of Kevin Keegan in that context might not be such a surprise. Kevin Keegan is a reference to more cheerful times in Newcastle’s history. He probably wasn’t the best manager available but in these troubled times he represents some sort of security as a way of overcoming the uncertainty created by the Northern Rock collapse.
Slightly off topic, it was strangely coincidental that Keegan should rejoin Newcastle just before a third round FA Cup replay because he left Newcastle just before a third round FA Cup replay – on 8th January 1997. (The replay, against Charlton Athletic, was a week later). Strange symmetry!
