Kevin Keegan played 124 League games and scored just 18 goals for Scunthorpe before Bill Shankly paid £35,000 to secure his services in May 1971. Born in Doncaster on 14 February 1951, Kevin was no more a promising youngster when he joined Scunthorpe but as, everyone knows, things changed rapidly after rapidly after his transfer to Anfield.

Kevin's Liverpool career was, by the standards of some, comparatively short. However, during his six seasons on Merseyside, he was to become an all-time favourite and establish himself firmly in the Liverpool hall of fame. Operating as a striker in tandem with the bulkier John Toshack, he scored some memorable goals, as well as impressing all with his workrate. He quickly became a key member of the England squad, playing his first game in 1972 and gaining 63 caps. So vital was he, that his absence through injury in 1982's World Cup in Spain would be blamed for the team's inability to take the trophy.

Having netted 68 times in 230 League games - during which time he picked up two League Championships as well as FA Cup and European Cup winner's medals - he forsook England for the bright lights of Hamburg. It is a measure of the gap he left that Kenny Daglish had to be prised from Glasgow Celtic to fill his Number 7 shirt .

While in Germany, Kevin was voted European Footballer of the Year in successive seasons and it surprised many a soccer pundits when, in July 1980, he returned to his country to play for Southampton. Having scored 37 League goals in 68 games for the Saints, he moved to Newcastle in August 1982 to help the Magpies gain promotion from Division Two. When this was achieved in the 1984 season he said goodbye to a glittering playing career and headed for the golf course in Spain.

When the helicopter arrived to take him away from St James' Park after his last appearances, it seemed he had left the game forever. He later returned to manage Newcastle, however, but quit early in 1997 when it all became too much for him.