Kevin Keegan was officially named as England Manager in February 1999, taking over from caretaker Manager Howard Wilkinson.
The former England star had built his managerial reputation at Newcastle and Fulham, where he had demonstrated his skills as an excellent man manager and motivator. In 1993 he took the Magpies from the First Division to the Premier League and over the next four seasons developed a title-chasing team and brought the club European football for the first time since the 1970s.
At Fulham he again achieved promotion, winning the Division Two title in 1999. This was the same season that England came calling and Keegan juggled the two roles until the summer, when he resigned from Craven Cottage to concentrate on his England duties.
Keegan’s first task was to stabilise a shaky European Championship qualifying campaign that had started with one loss, one draw and one win under Hoddle.
His reign began brightly with a 3-1 victory over Poland at Wembley but three subsequent draws meant England finished second in the group – behind Sweden – and were required go through a nerve-jangling play-off against Scotland.
A 2-0 victory at Hampden Park and a 1-0 loss at Wembley, however, was enough to see England reach the Finals in Belgium and the Netherlands.
After the hard-fought path to Euro 2000 the end result proved disappointing. Although England bounced back from a 3-2 defeat to Portugal in the opening group game to beat old rivals Germany 1-0, Keegan’s and England’s tournament was ended with another 3-2 defeat, this time against Romania.
Keegan’s reign did not last much longer and in October 2000, after defeat to Germany in England’s opening 2002 World Cup qualifying game, Keegan made the decision to resign from his position.