IAN LADYMAN: Don’t demonise Kevin Keegan… he is entitled to his opinion on football’s female pundits. PLUS, Andre Onana needs to be given more time before conclusions are reached

• Keegan does not like listening to female pundits commentating men’s game 
• He should not be demonised for his take, as he is entitled to his own opinion
• Click HERE to listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ 

The first time I met Kevin Keegan, in late 2001, he was Manchester City manager.

Sitting next to him at an old-fashioned round table press briefing for Manchester journalists, I introduced myself.

‘Nice to meet you,’ Keegan said. ‘Don’t take it personally but I don’t like your newspaper so I won’t be saying much to you.’

Keegan then preceded to talk almost non-stop for the next half an hour. And that was always the way with Keegan. He was a talker, a natural communicator. It was easy to see how he got players on board – how he motivated them – during his early successful years in management at Newcastle United.

Keegan’s scars ran deep by the time I met him. He was this side of the England job by then and where there had once been openness and candour, there was now mistrust and suspicion. It was a great shame.

Kevin Keegan claimed he has ‘a problem’ with female pundits talking about men’s football 

Keegan said he did not think women’s pundits were in a position to commentate on their male colleagues, particularly at international level

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It still didn’t stop him talking, though. Keegan was always an open book. That big heart he used to such great effect as a hustling, whirlwind of a striker for Liverpool, Hamburg, Newcastle, Southampton and England was always right there on his sleeve. It’s the way he was made. He couldn’t help it. And he still can’t.

So there he was in front of 250 paying guests at an intimate ‘Evening with Kevin Keegan’ event in Bristol this week talking briefly about women in football and in particular their role as pundits and analysts on TV.

‘I don’t like to listen to ladies talking about the England men’s team at the match because I don’t think it’s the same experience,’ said Keegan. ‘I have a problem with that.’

And now it has begun. The demonisation of an iconic English football figure. The slow and gradual taking down of a bloke who had the audacity to sit in front of a paying crowd and say what he really feels.

There was some context, by the way. Keegan also said he thought some female pundits were better than the men. He then told a story about being nutmegged by a female England player during a training session during his time as national coach.

But by then the damage was done. Keegan’s secret was out and the insinuation in the reaction and the coverage is clear. He’s a misogynist. He’s a dinosaur. He may well be both of these things but his comments don’t necessarily tell us this.

Keegan’s point – clumsily put – seems to be that women talking about England’s men’s matches do not have the experience of the environment to draw upon. He played 63 times for England and so is well educated in terms of the pressure and the expectation.

Is that a notch above that experienced by our women on the international stage? It is hard to know but Keegan thinks so and it’s not a stretch to say that he is entitled to that standpoint.

And this is the issue at stake here. Many will not agree with Keegan. Equally some will, including those in the audience who applauded him. But what matters is his right to express his opinion. You may even say he has earned that right over his many years in the game.

Keegan did also insist that some women pundits were better than their male counterparts

Football on television and the wider media is making welcome strides in terms of the diversity of representation. They are long overdue. But there is nothing to say that everybody who has ever turned on a TV set has to like it.

Keegan is not seen much these days. He still lives near to Manchester, in Cheshire. He is 72 and has long since decided that the blows that so derailed him emotionally during his short spell as England manager were best dealt with privately.

It’s sad because at his best – when rejuvenating his beloved Newcastle during his first spell as manager in the mid-1990s – he was as magnetically captivating and optimistic as anybody in the game. He loved football and for a while it loved him back.

He wasn’t really good enough to be England manager. Tactically, he may have been a trick or two short. But he knew it and that was why he resigned after that defeat to Germany in the Wembley rain in October 2000.

And he did always know himself, Keegan. It has always been one of his qualities. He knew exactly what he was back then and he clearly does so now.

So you could look at Keegan’s comments in Bristol and label them as those of an old man with his heart and mind stuck fast in a different time. Equally you could look at them more simply. They represent his view and he is perfectly entitled to express it.

Keegan resigned from his role as England manager in 2000 after the national team lost 1-0 to Germany in what was the last game at the old Wembley stadium

Onana needs time 

If goalkeepers such as Andre Onana of Manchester United and David Raya of Arsenal were as good with their feet as some people expect then the chances are they would be playing in midfield.

As it is, they are expected to build play by passing short and long and, with that, will come mistakes.

I said in this column in August that United’s decision to hire a goalkeeper with a background in Dutch and Italian football was a risk. But I take no pleasure in his struggles and am surprised so many people have decided already that Onana is not good enough for the Premier League.

David de Gea started his own United career dreadfully but he did OK in the end. Onana needs some time before conclusions are reached.

Andre Onana’s can still turn his Manchester United career around – he just needs more time

RWC needs to hurry up 

The Rugby World Cup started four weeks ago yet is stuck in the group stages. England have had so long between games I briefly wondered if they had been knocked out.

What has this to do with football? Well nothing but also everything.

The truth is that long, bloated tournaments – designed to maximise revenues and involve as many nations as possible – tend to lose momentum and public interest.

The next football World Cup in America comprises 48 teams. It will last five weeks instead of four. The one after that, in 2030, will take place in Spain, Portugal and Morocco but its opening matches will be held in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Sport – in all its forms – continues to test our patience and take our loyalty and interest for granted.

What now with VAR? 

So now that the culprits have endured their trial by audio, what have we learned that we didn’t know about VAR and its latest failure once the dust had settled late on Saturday night at Tottenham? 

Nothing at all, I would say. The reputations of Darren England and Dan Cook had already been trashed by the time they got to their beds after the game. What followed has felt like a witch hunt dressed up in legalese and has been awful to watch. Heaven help the next referee to get something wrong.

PGMOL have confirmed that VAR official Darren England (left) and VAR assistant Dan Cook (right) will step down from their roles for upcoming fixtures

Pep’s talk 

Pep Guardiola says modern footballers are asked to play too many games and should make a stand. ‘After that, UEFA and FIFA may react,’ said Guardiola.

Next season UEFA’s Champions League will be bigger with more games. From 2025, FIFA’s Club World Cup will be a 32-team summer tournament. 

We presume Manchester City are not objecting to either. If Guardiola wants his players to ask questions, they should begin closer to home.

Not quite Anfield… 

Jordan Henderson played his most recent game for Al Ettifaq in front of just 976 spectators. His stated desire to grow the game in Saudi Arabia may take a little longer than he thought. 

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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