Special 'K'?

Kevin Keegan, who twice galvanised Newcastle United, first as a player, then as a manager before bright-eyed enthusiasm was dulled by disappointment at club and later international level, has opted for a third degree at the cauldron of expectation that is St James' Park.

If evidence were needed of Keegan's mesmerising magic just ask Stoke City. Genuinely harbouring dreams of a cup upset, even deep in Toon Army territory, Stoke's replay hopes vanished as soon as the Geordie Messiah was ushered into the directors' box soon after the kick-off to the fourth round replay.

By the end Stoke were ravaged, Newcastle were rampant (that's a phrase not employed for many a month) and there was much back-slapping and newly-bought black and white striped shirts.

But once the honeymoon is over, and knowing the groundswell of ardour for Keegan that could last quite a few months, is his return destined to be a mega-mistake?

I sincerely hope not, because I am a Keegan fan and simply not because of the impact he had on me as a teenage Liverpool fan when he first joined the Reds from humble Scunthorpe United for £35,000, a third less than John Terry's current weekly wage packet.

Throughout his illustrious career Keegan maximised the most of his talents. As a player, he might not have been as naturally gifted as say a George Best or an Eddie Gray or a Charlie Cooke, but he allied his skill to an unquenchable zest for playing the game and a competitive spirit never bettered.

As legendary status was being conferred on him at Anfield, he inspired the first European Cup triumph in 1977 before heading for Germany.

Unfashionable Hamburg was his destination but he was twice crowned European Footballer of the Year before returning to, of all places Southampton, before ending his playing-days at Newcastle.

That's when the Magpies' fable was born, his mythic qualities reinforced when he returned as a manager to lead a forlorn side from the then old First Division back into the top-flight and almost snatching the elite crown before being undone by mind-games maharishi, Sir Alex Ferguson.

When England called, Keegan, winner of 63 caps and a former England captain, answered. But he was equally honest in his assessment as not being tactically enough aware for the demands of international football, and quit. A stint as Manchester City manager, unproductive in silverware though not in excitement and goals, ended with him walking free of the game.

Given the success of a new business venture in Glasgow, Soccer Circus, he seemed unlikely to return to the game he graced with so much zest and verve, until the persistent siren call of the Magpies.

However, Keegan goes back to a club in the knowledge that no matter how much the Geordie nation loves him, he was not the first choice to succeed Sam Allardyce. And that is the first time that has happened to Keegan. Up until now, wherever he has gone he has been the automatic main man. And for all my esteem for the man, whose buzz-saw playing days in red thrilled me to the core, Keegan represents all what is both good and bad about the best of domestic football.

His teams are founded on his own playing ways - pell-mell attacking, all-out commitment to entertainment, waspish and whiplash in turning rival rearguards into quaking masses.

But by that same token, Keegan - like the naïve incarnation of his England managerial reign - has struggled to apply tactical nous, has laboured to find a solution when the going gets tough.

If Keegan can reproduce the excitement of his first Newcastle rule, the Premier League will be richer, but I fear Keegan's return may prove a mistake.

• SPEAKING of gaffes, apologies to readers for my double error in last week's column. I said the venue of the current Third Test between Australia and India was Canberra when it is Perth, and also reported how Brad Hodge was cited for an alleged racist remark when it was Brad Hogg.