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Kevin Keelan

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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]

Yes he was a bricklayer in the summer months . He had a building firm later , which was keelan and hilditch, later taken over by john hilditch when Keelan went to florida I think

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[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

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

 

[/quote]

Got to agree with that Bly.

Keelan was my hero also. He had everything, safe hands, highly athletic, brave as a lion and tall dark and handsome into the bargain.

I must have seen him in action hundreds of times as he was a permanent fixture throughout the sixties and early seventies. He could be erratic at times but he also made saves that were totally out of this world. All keepers are prone to errors and gaffes and its always a talking point point because an error by a keeper usually means conceeding a goal. Kev played in some pretty ordinary sides during a dour period in the mid sixties and as Bly rightly says, he saved the points on many many occasions. The Carrow Road crowd loved him and he was well respected on away grounds also.

His great saves are to numerous to mention but a couple of incidents do stick in the mind. One was the crossbar falling on his head at Molyneux and the other was the left hook he gave Tommy Best of Northampton. Kev didn''t wait for the refs whistle but just walked straight off while poor old Besty was out for the count.

Great days, great hero. They don''t make ''em like him anymore.

 

 

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[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

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

 

[/quote]

Got to agree with that Bly.

Keelan was my hero also. He had everything, safe hands, highly athletic, brave as a lion and tall dark and handsome into the bargain.

I must have seen him in action hundreds of times as he was a permanent fixture throughout the sixties and early seventies. He could be erratic at times but he also made saves that were totally out of this world. All keepers are prone to errors and gaffes and its always a talking point point because an error by a keeper usually means conceeding a goal. Kev played in some pretty ordinary sides during a dour period in the mid sixties and as Bly rightly says, he saved the points on many many occasions. The Carrow Road crowd loved him and he was well respected on away grounds also.

His great saves are to numerous to mention but a couple of incidents do stick in the mind. One was the crossbar falling on his head at Molyneux and the other was the left hook he gave Tommy Best of Northampton. Kev didn''t wait for the refs whistle but just walked straight off while poor old Besty was out for the count.

Great days, great hero. They don''t make ''em like him anymore.

 

 

[/quote]

It isn''t that they don''t make them like that any more Ricardo.  It is that the rule changes have sanitised it into glorified chess.

What''s wrong with 1-2-3-5?

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Keelan always seemed to save City Bly.

We should than Shack for starting this thread because it brings back so many great memories. Two more quick memories to share. One is from the late 60''s and a home game against Millwall. They had a little forward by the name of Derek Possee. he used to play with Keith Weller and they came from Spurs as I remember. Possee was a short striker although he had a fair old leap on him. Any way, he went in a bit hard on ''our Kev'' and upset the great man. Now I think if they had been at all compatible in size Keelan would have given him the ''Northampton treatment'' but the difference in stature of the two men made that impossible. Keelan looked down at a stroppy little Derek Possee and slammed the ball down so hard on his head that he left him poleaxed on the deck. The referee came running over and gave a penalty and if I remember rightly booked Keelan. However violent conduct didn''t often earn a sending off in those days and Keelan remained to face the penalty. Mr Weller, famous in later years for wearing tights to play football, put the penalty wide for the biggest cheer of the afternoon.

The other one was my first visit to Old Trafford and the only time I actually saw George Best play. It was back in the early 70''s and it was the game after the famous boardroom bust up where Ron Saunders resigned. The game was only memorable for the skills of Best and Keelan. Best tried everything and Keelan saved everything. I don''t remember much else about the game which finished 0-0, but seeing those two great players on the same pitch was something I will always remember. There is no higher accolade than that from me.

 

 

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Keelan always seemed to save City Bly.

We should than Shack for starting this thread because it brings back so many great memories. Two more quick memories to share. One is from the late 60''s and a home game against Millwall. They had a little forward by the name of Derek Possee. he used to play with Keith Weller and they came from Spurs as I remember. Possee was a short striker although he had a fair old leap on him. Any way, he went in a bit hard on ''our Kev'' and upset the great man. Now I think if they had been at all compatible in size Keelan would have given him the ''Northampton treatment'' but the difference in stature of the two men made that impossible. Keelan looked down at a stroppy little Derek Possee and slammed the ball down so hard on his head that he left him poleaxed on the deck. The referee came running over and gave a penalty and if I remember rightly booked Keelan. However violent conduct didn''t often earn a sending off in those days and Keelan remained to face the penalty. Mr Weller, famous in later years for wearing tights to play football, put the penalty wide for the biggest cheer of the afternoon.

The other one was my first visit to Old Trafford and the only time I actually saw George Best play. It was back in the early 70''s and it was the game after the famous boardroom bust up where Ron Saunders resigned. The game was only memorable for the skills of Best and Keelan. Best tried everything and Keelan saved everything. I don''t remember much else about the game which finished 0-0, but seeing those two great players on the same pitch was something I will always remember. There is no higher accolade than that from me.

 

 

[/quote]

I seem to remember playing Birmingham ( who we really hated in the 70''s) at Carrow Road, KK being penalised for bringing down Bob Hatton, saving the penalty and then punching Hatton for diving. But I don''t think he was sent off.

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[quote user="shortfatb"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Keelan always seemed to save City Bly.

We should than Shack for starting this thread because it brings back so many great memories. Two more quick memories to share. One is from the late 60''s and a home game against Millwall. They had a little forward by the name of Derek Possee. he used to play with Keith Weller and they came from Spurs as I remember. Possee was a short striker although he had a fair old leap on him. Any way, he went in a bit hard on ''our Kev'' and upset the great man. Now I think if they had been at all compatible in size Keelan would have given him the ''Northampton treatment'' but the difference in stature of the two men made that impossible. Keelan looked down at a stroppy little Derek Possee and slammed the ball down so hard on his head that he left him poleaxed on the deck. The referee came running over and gave a penalty and if I remember rightly booked Keelan. However violent conduct didn''t often earn a sending off in those days and Keelan remained to face the penalty. Mr Weller, famous in later years for wearing tights to play football, put the penalty wide for the biggest cheer of the afternoon.

The other one was my first visit to Old Trafford and the only time I actually saw George Best play. It was back in the early 70''s and it was the game after the famous boardroom bust up where Ron Saunders resigned. The game was only memorable for the skills of Best and Keelan. Best tried everything and Keelan saved everything. I don''t remember much else about the game which finished 0-0, but seeing those two great players on the same pitch was something I will always remember. There is no higher accolade than that from me.

 

 

[/quote]


I seem to remember playing Birmingham ( who we really hated in the 70''s) at Carrow Road, KK being penalised for bringing down Bob Hatton, saving the penalty and then punching Hatton for diving. But I don''t think he was sent off.
[/quote]

In those days it didn''t matter if you had two hands on the ball - if you were barged into the back of the net while still clutching a goal it stood.

And why not?  Nat Lofthouse was the expert at that.

Very wimply today for me.

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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]

This is quite true. I was at Norwich City Technical College in 1970-1972 and I remember Alan Black working as a brickies mate there one June.

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Had the joy of beginning my ''career''watching Norwich about the the same time as Kevin started his playing in goal.  Was, therefore, privileged enough to follow the whole man''s career at Norwich.  Was my first Norwich hero and probably my all-time Norwich hero.  Character on and off the pitch and wonderfully acrobatic keeper.  Had it somewhere in the back of my mind that he would have been eligible to play for Wales for some reason but that might just be senility!  Favourite song of all time:

''Aye aye aye aye

Keelan is better than Yashin

Bryceland is better than Euseibio

And Ipswich are in for a thrashing!''

 

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[quote user="Camuldonum"]

It isn''t that they don''t make them like that any more Ricardo.  It is that the rule changes have sanitised it into glorified chess.

What''s wrong with 1-2-3-5?

[/quote]You sound just like my dad! (85 & still moaning for England). Personally I like the glorified chess bit.

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You''ll be contending Peter Vasper was a better ''keeper next - sorry,  this is a ludicrous proposition and I can only think that you must be rating KK towards the tail end of his long career when a lack of assertiveness inevitably afflicts every custodian nearing 40 - eg Peter Shilton. Hope this doesn''t presage you championing Iwan Roberts over Ron Davies next!

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Keelan is one of my all time favourites and brings back many happy memories. A real showman, with one of the most extravagant drop kick techniques I''ve ever seen, but wonderfully athletic and not to be messed with! A true NCFC great.

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One of my favourite Keelan memories is the 1972-73 Texaco Cup tie with Leicester. With the scores tied in the second leg at Carrow Road it went to penalties and Keelan became the hero of the hour, first saving a penalty and then stepping up to score the winning penalty himself! [:D] Does anyone else remember this game?

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[quote user="JimRoyle"]One of my favourite Keelan memories is the 1972-73 Texaco Cup tie with Leicester. With the scores tied in the second leg at Carrow Road it went to penalties and Keelan became the hero of the hour, first saving a penalty and then stepping up to score the winning penalty himself! [:D]

Does anyone else remember this game?
[/quote]

Yes, and I''ve still got the programme somewhere!

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Keelan was them man, i remember an hour special about him on whats now radio 5 live talking as him being the best ever keeper not to win a cap. His best save imo was at Hull in the cup, when Wagstaffe i believe hit a belter which was deflected, Keelan seem to turn in mid air to tip it over, on par with Banks save imo.

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I remember the national press liked to accuse him of making easy saves looked difficult - but who cared as long as he saved? Think the prematch coverage of the Chelsea v Norwich FA cup tie in the late 1960s the Mirror concluded on that basis that Bonetti was the better keeper, despite Bonetti''s frequent errors. The fact is that for years and years you never expected or wanted to see anyone else in goal for City and as long as he was there you always felt he could and would make the save when needed. Hansbury and Vasper never came close and although it is difficult to make comparisons with other greats such as Woods or Gunn, at the time I felt Keelan was second only to the great Gordon Banks. A great keeper and entertainer.

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I remember watching Keelan many times, undoubtably the best keeper never to get International recognition but as he was born in India the criteria for being eligible was stricter then.

I remember the sending off''s usually for punching a centre forward who had challenged too late too often and I think it was the one against Northampton when after laying out the bloke he took off his jumper and ran off the pitch. He was then called back by the ref only to be officially sent off.

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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]

You''re not wrong JR.

'' Mr Keelan '' was near Barclays Bank in Anglia Square. Like most footballer''s forays into business it wasn''t a great success and was only trading for about 18 months. I remember walking past on several occasions and seeing Kevin in there chatting to the customers.

Although he struggled to make a go of it - Anglia Square was a graveyard even then - he did secure one rather tasty commission in kitting out the entire team and management in those God-awful green velvet suits they wore at Wembley for the 1975 League Cup Final.

I suppose with all the other '' crimes '' against good taste in progress at that time I recall they somehow slipped under the radar and consequently avoided prosecution........

 

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[quote user="......and Smith must score."]

[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]

You''re not wrong JR.

'' Mr Keelan '' was near Barclays Bank in Anglia Square. Like most footballer''s forays into business it wasn''t a great success and was only trading for about 18 months. I remember walking past on several occasions and seeing Kevin in there chatting to the customers.

Although he struggled to make a go of it - Anglia Square was a graveyard even then - he did secure one rather tasty commission in kitting out the entire team and management in those God-awful green velvet suits they wore at Wembley for the 1975 League Cup Final.

I suppose with all the other '' crimes '' against good taste in progress at that time I recall they somehow slipped under the radar and consequently avoided prosecution........

 

[/quote]

 

Almost as bad as Liverpool''s infamous white suits for the 1996 Cup Final!! [:D]

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What a great thread.Kevin built a house in Hevingham,which he lived in for a few years. He also worked behind the bar at the fox now and again.Freqented the footballers pub at the time the Woolpack next to edp offices.Great keeper and servant to city.I consider myself privaliged to have seen him play all his home games and a few away.Have got his and Barry Butler autographs from a training session held at Sheringham because Trowse was frozen. Can anyone tell me who went in goal in the Northampton game after kevin was sent off..I know and he was another decent player.

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A flying acobatic save by Keelan from a Peter Osgood header in front of the Barclay against Chelsea in the replayed 2nd leg Milk Cup semi final in ''73 has always stuck in my mind, if that had gone in I think we would have been over run and never got to Wembley.

The leg was replayed after the original game was abandoned due to thick fog and we were only ten minutes from going to Wembley when it was abandoned!!.

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