Keegan took charge of his debut game in charge of the Blues which ended with a 3-0 victory over Watford, the prelude to our swaggering promotion back to the Premier League.
The iconic former boss, like all those before and since, offered his thoughts ahead the match in the matchday programme’s manager column.
We’re opening the City Vault today by republishing them here for you to read as we remember a memorable start for a memorable man.
Kevin Keegan – Manager Notes
The challenge for anyone who is given the chance to become manager of Manchester City is to fulfil the club’s enormous potential. I am excited at the prospect of meeting that challenge.
After I resigned as England coach, many people, nice people with big ideas came to see me and offered me opportunities in management. I didn’t take them because they were not right for Kevin Keegan.
But when the Manchester City chairman came to see me, he didn’t have to ‘sell’ his club to me. I knew it was the one. The right job. The only club.
I have only played at Maine Road a few times and watched the odd game but it is a transparent club – you can see from the outside what you are getting.
Everyone knows about the tremendous fan base, the incredible loyalty, the underachievement for so many years and the potential. So much potential. Fulfilling it is what matters and that’s really all I want to talk about.
We all have our memories. City fans from different eras will remember the great teams of the past, the Revie years, the glory years when Lee, Bell and Summerbee were heroes, that play-off final against Gillingham at Wembley, the fans on the hill at Blackburn on the last day of the season a year later.
And I know how popular Joe Royle was here and how hard he worked to get this club back in the Premiership.
I have my memories, too, as a player and as a manager, but I am not one for looking back. All my energy is concentrated on what the future will bring.
I asked the chairman what his ambitions were for City after the disappointment of being relegated last season. He said ‘We must get back to the Premiership and we want to be a top-six club’.
Those two goals, I believe, are achievable within the period of my contract. Five years. Not easy but achievable.
I am not promising anything EXCEPT that I will give it everything and more. That is the way I am. I have never lost my enthusiasm for the game and I enjoy club management.
The aim, quite simply, is the Premiership. It has to be. And when we get back there, which we will, there will be other targets.
How we do it and how long it takes depends on all of us pulling together. Players, staff, directors, supporters. The standards we are going to set will be high. They have to be reached.
Inevitably, there will be changes. Some have taken place already. We have a new fitness coach, Juan Carlos Osario, a new chief scout in Arthur Cox, although he will be much more than that, a new goalkeeping coach in Peter Bonetti and Stuart Pearce as player-coach.
Willie Donachie has stayed on and I am delighted about that. I like his training methods and his attitude. Les Chapman and Asa Hartford are still here, too, so we have a strong team.
There has not been a big turnaround of players during the summer. That would have been unfair. But we have brought in three notable signings, Stuart Pearce, Eyal Berkovic and Simon Colosimo.
We go straight into a high-profile opening game against Watford, under their new manager Gianluca Vialli. I like him and accept that he faces a similar challenge to myself because he is at a club that feels it should be in the Premiership.
Our aim is to start the season with a win and hope that with hard work and a bit of luck we can give you all what you want – promotion.
WHAT NEXT
King Kev’s City career got off to the perfect start as he saw his side brush aside Watford at Maine Road.
The victory owed much to a brilliant debut by former West Ham midfielder and new Blues signing Eyal Berkovic.
The Israeli ran the show in City’s victory in front of just under 34,000 thrilled fans.
Shaun Goater opened the scoring, Berkovic added a second and fellow newbie Stuart Pearce grabbed the third late on.
Watford’s misery was compounded by a red card for full-back Paul Robinson.
And Keegan was a man of his word - his team was promoted at the first time of asking, winning the First Division by a clear 10 points.
City, dubbed ‘The Entertainers’ for their swashbuckling style of play, scored more than 100 league goals for the first time since the 1957/58 season.
Our 108 goals remains a 21st century record in England’s top four tiers of football.
