Kevin Keegan's iconic status in football was secured by his playing career alone, but his hunger for success has also made him an inspirational manager.
The former Liverpool and England striker, awarded the OBE in 1982, has been a high achiever at all three league clubs he has managed, most notably Newcastle where he won promotion to the top flight and led a memorable assault on the Premier League title.
After an earlier promotion success with Newcastle as a player, the Geordie Messiah returned as manager a decade later to inherit a team trailing in the second tier. They stormed to promotion in 1993, after his first full season, and were third in the Premiership a year later.
In 1995-96, Keegan's cavalier outfit had a 12 point lead in the title race at one stage before finishing second to Manchester United. He quit the following season in which Newcastle again took second spot.
Instant promotion with Fulham, newly under the ownership of Mohamed Al Fayed, followed a short break from the game - before Kevin was wooed into the England job for a brief but typically colourful spell.
Keegan's charisma and insistence on attacking play then cast its spell on Manchester City who had just been relegated from the elite when he took control in 2001. City stormed to the championship of the then Division One, amassing 108 goals and 99 points in the process.
City qualified for the UEFA Cup under Keegan, who finally left an established Premiership outfit in 2005 before returning to Newcastle for a fleeting second stint as manager in 2008.
It has been, and will probably continue to be, a romantic journey for a man born on Valentine's Day in 1951, the most famous son of the Doncaster district of Armthorpe.
After starting his career with Scunthorpe, Keegan found enduring success at Liverpool - where he won the European Cup, the league title (three times), the FA Cup (twice) and UEFA Cup (twice) - before continuing his career with Hamburg (where he won the Bundesliga), Southampton and Newcastle.
Keegan has also run soccer schools as well as being a much-sought-after television pundit.
