'You can't be Kevin Keegan': Stan Collymore invokes the name of the Messiah when talking about Ange Postecoglou

 · January 24 2025, 19:00
'You can't be Kevin Keegan': Stan Collymore invokes the name of the Messiah when talking about Ange Postecoglou
Copied
Share Tweet

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou is under immense pressure right now and is favourite to be the next Premier League manager for the chop.

The former Celtic boss, who boasted that he always wins silverware in his second season, may still have Spurs on course to do so, but whether he'll still be in the job by the time any cup finals come around remains to be seen.

Postecoglou is often praised for the style of football his Spurs side plays with former thorn in Newcastle United's side, Stan Collymore comparing his style of play to former Magpies boss Kevin Keegan.

Kevin Keegan's entertainers are always the go-to comparison when a team plays attacking football with a 'we'll score one more than you' mentality.

Advertisement
0 Liverpool v Newcastle Anfield 1996
This was the effect Stan Collymore had on Kevin Keegan

There can be only one Kevin Keegan

Writing for Caught Offside, Collymore has, quite rightly said, that Keegan's brand of football just doesn't work in the Premier League in modern times.

“Do I like Ange Postecoglou? Yes, I do. Do I like the way that he plays his football? Yes, I do. As a kid and then as a professional footballer, I wanted to play attacking football. That’s what it was all about.

“I wanted to become a forward and that’s why I loved to run with the ball (and) score goals. Left foot, right foot. Now, obviously somewhere like Celtic or in Japan, that’s going to be easy for Ange to get success, but you have to acknowledge that, in the Premier League nowadays, you can’t be Kevin Keegan at Newcastle Mk II.

“He’s got to get his basics right. Set pieces, defensive set pieces, attacking set pieces, second balls and the dirty stuff which you can still hide underneath the veneer of being a total football team. Everybody wants to come out and play nowadays and he will not reinvent the wheel at Tottenham or in the Premier League.”
Advertisement

Newcastle under Eddie Howe still tap into the spirit of Keegan's Entertainers

Newcastle World picked up this quote and spun it as Collymore having a dig at Kevin Keegan. We're not sure how they managed to interpret that, but to us it reads like Collymore saying you can't replicate that magic that Keegan brought to the Premier League in his first spell as Newcastle boss.

Eddie Howe has flirted with the Kevin Keegan comparisons. When Newcastle play at their best under Howe they have that same attacking flair that made Newcastle everyone's second club in the '90s, but with Howe there's a solid defence behind that free-flowing attack making it more suitable to the modern game.

Hopefully, that's the style we'll see in action at St Mary's tomorrow when the Mags take on Southampton.

Latest NUFC News