‘The utmost respect for him’: Alex Ferguson pays tribute to Kevin Keegan

Sir Alex Ferguson has saluted Kevin Keegan for building Newcastle’s “greatest team”. Keegan, who had cancer, died on Monday at the age of 75 and Ferguson has joined the tributes for one of football’s most endearing characters.Ferguson and Keegan were involved a fierce battle for Premier League supremacy, with Ferguson’s Manchester United pipping Newcastle to the title in 1996. “I had the utmost respect for him,” Ferguson told Track Radio. “We had many duels when he was manager of Newcastle, but the job he did at Newcastle was fantastic. He re-energised that club and he brought that enthusiasm and fanaticism great supporters can give.“And he also brought three great players to the club – [David] Ginola, [Faustino] Asprilla, Philippe Albert – and added a bit of class to the team. The challenges we had with Newcastle at that time were huge.”Keegan, frustrated by Ferguson’s comments in the media towards the end of the tense title fight, memorably ranted at the Scot in a television interview. Despite that, Ferguson remained friendly with the former Liverpool and England striker and admired Keegan’s impressive rebuilding job at Newcastle.The club were in danger of relegation to the third tier when Keegan took over, but he saved them from that fate and then won promotion to the Premier League in 1993. Keegan made Newcastle so dynamic they were referred to as “the entertainers”.Ferguson believes the title runners-up were the best team in the club’s history. “Kevin carried the love of the game on his sleeve, there’s no question about that, and that carried right on to the fans, to the players,” he said. “That period at Newcastle was of emotion, it was excitement. They brought these great players to the club and they added to it, and it gave Newcastle – I think – their best ever team.”Tributes at St James’ Park for Kevin Keegan, who died on Monday Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PAFerguson said he and Keegan had bumped into each other at a pub near Wentworth golf club a few weeks after that season. They spent the night around a piano with all thoughts of the rivalry forgotten. “The great thing about him, he held no grudges,” Ferguson said. “That was a fantastic quality he had and we had a great night.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“All aside whatever happened in previous weeks, that was soon forgotten. I really respected him for that.”