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Shack Attack

Kevin Keelan

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This may seem a slightly random thread but it is NCFC related so I hope you''ll forgive me. I sat in the Snake Pit for the first time today and as I was ''enjoying'' my first pre-match pint of generic cooking lager I wandered a bit further down the City Stand until I came to a display of the top ten appearance makers for City. Now this is nowhere near as grand as the Hall of Fame in the South Stand, in fact it looks like a series of possters that have been removed from a teenagers bedroom wall, but I did find it interesting. And the thing that intruiged me most was the number of games that Kevin Keelan played for City.Keelan played 673 games for City and whenever I speak to anyone who ever saw him play they have such fond memories. He would be a certainty to be the keeper in any all time XI and many people would have him as our greatest player of all time. Now my question to anyone who witnessed Kevin''s City career is ''Was there ever the likelihood that he might leave for a bigger club and were rumours such as this a regular occurence?''. It seems incredible that any modern player would be so highly rated and play 673 for one club unless they were playing for one of the ''big four''.How did we hold on to Keelan for so long? Was he the regular subject of transfer speculation? I''d love some of our more ''mature'' posters (to be fair his last game was only two years befor my first [:D]) to give me a little more information. Strange how one poster can get you thinking so much!

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My dad speaks very fondly of him, i remember as a kid thinking Kevin Keegan had played for City, stupid i know. He often says how unfortunate he was not to play for England with the likes ofGordon Banks, Bonetti and then Clemence, Shilton and Corrigan around during his time at City.

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A few thoughts -

Transfers were far, far less numerous then if my memory serves me well. Keepers seemed to move even less. It would be expected to field the same side week in week out.

A great character who could look after himself in the box, great at catching the ball from a corners. One photo of him was always used.

Shocked my young ears stood in the very front of the Barclay hearing the exchanges between him and Alan Black - sadly you would be thrown out of the ground if such words were used now.

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he was a class act without a dobt and was unlucky to not become an international , dont remember anything about him ever thinking of leaving tho players were far more loyal then and the game didnt have silly amounts of money then , probably our best ever keepe and a proper legend

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I''ve got great memories of watching him when I was a kid.  He''d certainly be my No.1 in an all time Canaries team.  As mentioned above, these were the days when the English leagues were awash with quality keepers.  It was also the time when we didn''t have Bosman rulings and agents stirring up players to get itchy feet.  I''m probably wrong but I can''t remember him being seriously linked with a move away which was good because the way we used to play in those days we usually needed a good goalie behind the defence!  He made some magnificant saves and could also be a fiery character if the opposition forwards got in his way.  He was also someone who liked to be noticed - there were always plenty of those "for the cameras" saves when he was around! 

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A great acrobatic keeper, but also prone to the odd howler.

My favorite was against Newcastle I think, Keelan was at the River End (the terraced vintage of course). Long range shot, Keelan wanders across the goal, both hand up in the air - "non problem it''s going wide" - and oops it creeps into the corner. Later of course he pulls off a wonder save or two...

Peter Bonetti had the nickname "the cat" but I think Keelen deserved it more.

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Yeah the man was a hero of his time born in india only ever saw him play twice & lucky enough was the 1973 & 1975 leauge cup final.If he was still playing today (as with the rest of the great keepers we have had) some big team ie man u ,liverpool would have come in for him.Kevin was at the top of his game then may i say top 20 in the world

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The one thing I remember was....

Playing Leeds, and keelan had the ball in the goal area, if I remember right it was bemner knocked the ball out of keelans hands with his hands and scored a goal, this was HANDBALL but the ref and linesman were running up the field so didnt see it, but the 20,00 in the ground see it as plain as day.

Of course the ground was in uproar, keelan leading the crowd, but the (goal ? ) stood as the linesman and ref didnt see it and asummed keelan dropped the ball and bemner scored.

I think we lost but was a funny old day, when a goal was not a goal.

You think we got problems with refs now ?

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Like other contributors to this thread, I can''t recall transfer rumours about Kevin Keelan during his playing career here, However a few years ago he gave an interview to the EDP in which he claimed that during John Bond''s reign, Man Utd made enquiries about him but these enquiries were not passed on as the club didn''t think he would be interested !

Kevin Keelan stayed with us for 17 years as a player I suppose that in his time, there were so many great keepers about in British football that he probably felt that he was best served by being our No 1 rather than possibly ending up as understudy at a bigger club.

In closing, I wonder if he is the only Norwich player to genuinely have a road named after him in the City ?

 

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Shack - Keelan is my all time favourite player. Peters was probably my all time best, but Keelan really was something special. Looking back with today''s eyes it''s impossible to comprehend how a goalkeeper who was undoubtedly among the top six in the country year in year out never seemed to be linked with the very best clubs but he never was and there never seemed a suggestion that he would leave. Except once! A season in the late 70''s when he let in five at ipswich and another five at Newcastle. The impossible happened and Bondy dropped Keelan and put Hansbury in![:S] Keelan was devastated and took it badly. Talk was ipswich were sniffing round but Bond wouldn''t let him leave without a fee being paid and the binners were too tight to part with money for a 36 year old. So thankfully we all had the pleasure of watching our hero for another few seasons.

 

If ever there was a bronze statue outside Carrow Road it would have to be of Keelan flying through the air tipping the ball over the crossbar. Even if it was a ball he could comfortably have caught. But he was the ultimate entertainer (even when landing a left hook.)

 

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He was an entertainer, had the ability to make an ordinary save look spectacular. Never heard of him moving, I guess money was''nt so relevant then, he must have been very happy here. Whilst other players came and went, to me he was just a part of the whole set up which would never change. Slightly different these days eh ?

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From my time watching a and for a short time being able to train alone side Kevin Keelan this is my honest opinion;

A very naturally gifted goal keeper, he as a youngster made many mistakes and was a ''hot head''. If you knocked into him he would often just punch you!

At the time there was many very good British keepers, Keelan was mainly playing second division football and with Norwich, was never getting the publicity that the London or Northern keepers got. There would never have been a big chance of him moving, the money was just not there then and no agents to get players to move. His wage under Bond would have been sub £300 per week.

Although I rate him highly, I have to say he was not IMHO the best Norwich keeper, that goes to Chris Woods, but he is well up there and a fine loyal servant to us.

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There were transfer requests when he fell out with managers i recall but when sense prevailed he stayed .

As was stated earlier he was a true entertainer a crowd pleaser if you like but above all a bloody brilliant keeper.

I had the privilege to meet Kevin many times mostly at the club when employed as a steward and also at his home delivering items he and his then wife had purchassed.

He was a true gentleman even if his reputation suggested different and a true legend for the canaries .

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[quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"]My dad speaks very fondly of him, i remember as a kid thinking Kevin Keegan had played for City, stupid i know. He often says how unfortunate he was not to play for England with the likes ofGordon Banks, Bonetti and then Clemence, Shilton and Corrigan around during his time at City.[/quote]

my dad loved him, and whenever he sees a picture of him he points out he wears no glovves!

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Kevin Keelan was the best uncapped english player ever and, at his prime, was better than Chris Woods at his prime. Without doubt a class act and without doubt City''s No 1 in many ways.

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Hot-headed, temperamental and a showman with a colourful personal life but an absolutely brilliant goalkeeper who in some games was simply unbeatable whatever the opposition threw at him. His reflexes were lightning quick and his agility awesome.

One incident I remember was in a game where the opposition centre forward had been giving him a hard time. During the second half a cross came in and up went Keelan with the centre forward. Keelan''s fist came flying out, completely missing the ball, but smacking the centre forward bang on the nose (accidentally of course) as his knee went full pelt into the groin. The poor guy laid sparked out on the turf for ages with blood pouring out of his nose whilst he was desperately trying to check he still had two of what he should have two of.

And he was the top of his game for years and years and years - not just a few seasons. We were so lucky to have him for so long.

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Ah yes - Keelan! Remember him well as he was City''s goalkeeper for the first ten years of my time as a supporter. His last game was the famous 5-3 defeat by Liverpool in 1980 (yes the same match in which Justin Fashanu scored his goal of the season).He would almost certainly have been linked with a move several times nowadays, but in his day there were far fewer agents and less incentive to move. Players would often stay at the same club for years.The Leeds game referred to earlier was in the 1978-79 season - Keelan threw the ball down in a temper and John Hawley nipped in to score! Fortunately Martin Peters equalised and the game was drawn 2-2.

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[quote user="Shack Attack"]This may seem a slightly random thread but it is NCFC related so I hope you''ll forgive me. I sat in the Snake Pit for the first time today and as I was ''enjoying'' my first pre-match pint of generic cooking lager I wandered a bit further down the City Stand until I came to a display of the top ten appearance makers for City. Now this is nowhere near as grand as the Hall of Fame in the South Stand, in fact it looks like a series of possters that have been removed from a teenagers bedroom wall, but I did find it interesting. And the thing that intruiged me most was the number of games that Kevin Keelan played for City.Keelan played 673 games for City and whenever I speak to anyone who ever saw him play they have such fond memories. He would be a certainty to be the keeper in any all time XI and many people would have him as our greatest player of all time. Now my question to anyone who witnessed Kevin''s City career is ''Was there ever the likelihood that he might leave for a bigger club and were rumours such as this a regular occurence?''. It seems incredible that any modern player would be so highly rated and play 673 for one club unless they were playing for one of the ''big four''.How did we hold on to Keelan for so long? Was he the regular subject of transfer speculation? I''d love some of our more ''mature'' posters (to be fair his last game was only two years befor my first [:D]) to give me a little more information. Strange how one poster can get you thinking so much![/quote]

Shack my fourpen''eth would be as has been mentioned there was a lot of good British Keepers around then, and of course squads were not as big, certainly GK''s didn''t move around as much. The fact that he didnt get in the International set up would have kept him under the radar to some extent too. He was a good keeper, very entertaining and very much part of the success of the time. A real "Flash Harry" of the day.

You also have to remember that we had our fair share of success at the time so there wasn''t that many teams that would have been a real step up for him. Unlike today when we have two divsions of teams that in theory would be a career opportunity.

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I remember a game at the beginning of one season, think it was against Wolves, Keelan went to make a save, and, as he did so, the crossbar came off the goal and that & part of the netting fell on him, holding up play.

Can''t recall if he had to go off or not, he probably didn''t!

Had a book he wrote when I was younger-he must have written it in the mid 70''s or thereabouts-he talks about how Ron Greenwood picked him for England in a representative match of some sort (ie) not a full international, so no caps awarded-but how it meant the world to him, and, when he went to bed later that night, he put the England kit on again that he had kept and just stood and looked at himself, wearing it, in the mirror!

Man Utd wanted him the season we both won promotion, but didn''t get as far as making a bid, as John Bond told them not to bother!

 

 

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Excellent!

Copied the below from an Independent article, back in 1993!

What happens if a player hits the ball so hard that the crossbar collapses?

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Norwich City, First Division, 25 August 1973: for the third (I think) goal in a 3-1 win Derek Dougan lifted the ball over the advancing City keeper, Kevin Keelan, who turned and in trying to retrieve the ball grabbed hold of the net and brought down the crossbar down on his head. Keelan was carried off but returned with his head bandaged just as repairs had been completed to reclaim his jersey and finish the match. - M Cropley, Norwich.

Carried on, despite the crossbar falling on his head! One tough man!

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You have to remember that when he played it was agolden age of english keepers in this country, but also keepers did not command high transfer fees at all in comparison to other players. Even the "best" team in the country of the early 70''s Leeds were happy to have a real clown playing in goal for most of the time in Gary Sprake. So demand was not exactly high, and also Keelan had a "wild" reputation, stemming from those incidents in his early career where he regularly had fights with opposition forwards on the pitch, and with husbands and boyfriends of women he got off with off it. Have a read of his autobiography, it''s a good read.

He was definitely flash, and would always make a save look good for the camera if it were possible. You could not conceive of a Norwich match without him at No.1 thoughout the 70''s.

I felt so sorry for him in the ''75 final, he pulled off such a great penalty save only to be let down by the defence not reacting to the rebound. His last chance of a winners medal.

I disagree with the poster who said Woods was better. Woods was a "dracula" keeper (scared of crosses). Keelo was never scared of opponent or tricky balls in the air, and had great positional sense in his later career, so for me was the better keeper, plus he was entertaining with it and had a brilliant relationship with the fans.

A fantastic personality and always entertaining.

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I have heard that in the early days of Kevin Keelans stay at Norwich, the players were so poorly paid that some of them took on jobs during the summer to make ends meet and that he was one of them. Can anyone confirm this ? maybe some of you even worked with him , it would be interesting to confirm that this practice carried on as late as the 60''s as I know that it was true of much earlier times.

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In those days back in the 70''s I can remember loving going to Carrow Road just to watch Kevin Keelan''s goalkeeping. He would make some really spectacular saves, (sometimes more spectacular than they needed to be), and was a real showman in his day. Tremendous servant to the club and must be one of our all time greats.

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[quote user="John Morlar"]I have heard that in the early days of Kevin Keelans stay at Norwich, the players were so poorly paid that some of them took on jobs during the summer to make ends meet and that he was one of them. Can anyone confirm this ? maybe some of you even worked with him , it would be interesting to confirm that this practice carried on as late as the 60''s as I know that it was true of much earlier times.[/quote]

 

That was not unusual for players of that era, many of the houses in Thorpe that were built in the fifties and sixties had city players working as labourers in the close season.

Another reason it was easier to keep hold of players was there was not such a great difference in the wages that players from the second and first divisions were payed, especially with goalkeepers who were often the poor relations. I well remember seeing Keelan play and I still rate him as the best keeper I have seen play for Norwich and certainly the best keeper for dealing with crosses.

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A "Kevin Keelan" posted on here last year (I think). It seemed plausible that it was actually the great man himself - very sensible posts from someone who sounded as if he''d played at a high level. Does anybody know if it was him?

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I too was lucky enough to see'' Keelo'' play for a greater part of his career with us.  His saves for the camera have already been well documented, and his dislike of opposition forwards!I also had the privilege of knowing him off the field as well, and have been known to share the odd drink with him.   I remember him telling me once,  that the player he hated playng behind the most was ''Knocker'' Powell, because he never had a clue what ''Knocker'' was going to do next!

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I reckon that the most recurring Pink ''Un headline of all time in all it''s different variations is:

''Keelan saves City''

Wanna bet?

OTBC

 

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[quote user="John Morlar"]I have heard that in the early days of Kevin Keelans stay at Norwich, the players were so poorly paid that some of them took on jobs during the summer to make ends meet and that he was one of them. Can anyone confirm this ? maybe some of you even worked with him , it would be interesting to confirm that this practice carried on as late as the 60''s as I know that it was true of much earlier times.[/quote]I think he had his own clothes boutique in Norwich for a time, called ''Mr Keelan''. Wonder what happened to that shop?!

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As an Old Git (and former keeper in Third Division South) Kevin Keelan is simply on my list of the greatest keepers I had the privilege of watching.  Certainly the greatest Norwich keeper I have personally seen and, as others have commented, his reflex saves were something else.

Of my long gone era he would be right up there, week after week (and consistency is, after all, what you want in a keeper).

Because of age I had the privilege of watching in their prime Bert Williams (Wolves) - shortarse but no one better on the ground - Jack Kelsey (Arsenal and Wales), Pat Jennings (Spurs and Northern Ireland - and has any keeper saved as many one on one''s with his feet or caught crosses one handed?), Bert Trautmann (Manchester City - angles and crosses genius), Lev Yashin (aka the Black Panther or the Black Spider on Russian groups) - never saw Big Frank Swift play but others claim he was up there.

But Kevin Keelan is on that list I would say by right.

Pat Jennings survived into the era of gloves but none of the others did.

 

 

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[quote user="JimRoyle"][quote user="John Morlar"]I have heard that in the early days of Kevin Keelans stay at Norwich, the players were so poorly paid that some of them took on jobs during the summer to make ends meet and that he was one of them. Can anyone confirm this ? maybe some of you even worked with him , it would be interesting to confirm that this practice carried on as late as the 60''s as I know that it was true of much earlier times.[/quote]

I think he had his own clothes boutique in Norwich for a time, called ''Mr Keelan''. Wonder what happened to that shop?!
[/quote]

 

Can''t say about Keelan but in those days your non playing summer wage was cut by half at Reading from £12 to £6 per week.  My right back at Reading drove coaches to the seaside for Smiths of Reading.

That was then of course.

 

 

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