Michael Kavanagh

If you can help, help. if you need help, ask!

[Football Tweet ⚽ @Footballtweet]

👏 𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗕𝗟𝗘. Ajax U11 player Syb Zeldenthuis received a standing ovation from the Johan Cruijff ArenA after completing 3,085 keepy-uppies without dropping.

Each touch was €1 for charity.

He had to be stopped because the game was starting.

[Briefcase Michael @BriefcaseMike]

Can't get my head round the media saying a robot has beaten Usain Bolt's record.
I used to beat Usain Bolt's record every day in my old Mini.
Has the entire world gone fucking mad?

[Michael Kavanagh @kavanaghmichael]

@The_Forty_Four @CelticGIFs Was England on his list? 🤔

[𝗧𝗼𝗺 𝗢𝘀𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻 PhD, FRSA. @call_me_tomasso]

Chortle, snort, guffaw. 🐧🥻

[Count Binface @CountBinface]

Fancy that.

[𝒢𝒾𝓁𝒷ℯ𝓇𝓉 @AbakpaJob]

How come Al is inevitable and we need to adapt and accept it, but renewable energy, tackling microplastics and restoring ecosystems are framed as stupid and inconvenient? The gaslighting from the 1% is top tier.

[Michael Kavanagh @kavanaghmichael]

@kenny47110 We knew that by the team you support ☺️

[Damo @Damo00007]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh my eyes 👀

[Ricky Forbes @Ricky9Forbes]

Meghoma is an awful left back. Please tell me this is a bad dream. Tell that green and white voodoo witch doctor we have had enough. Fuck me this is hell.

[Michael Kavanagh @kavanaghmichael]

@LionelRoachTea

[Annemarie Ward 💜 @Annemarieward]

I drove past this gentleman in Glasgow today, got about thirty seconds down the road, then turned the car round.

I wanted to thank him.

Bucket of water. Scrubbing brush. Quietly removing graffiti from an old sandstone wall. Nobody paying him. No council van. No strategy, task force or community empowerment initiative. He’d simply seen something being spoiled and decided to do something about it.

Just around the corner is the Mitchell Library.

Someone has sprayed a huge black tag across the sandstone of one of Glasgow’s great civic buildings.

Glasgow is becoming saturated with this stuff. There has been speculation that some of the newer tagging is connected to drug gangs and changes in the illicit drugs market. I don’t know whether that’s true, and speculation isn’t fact. But we don’t need to know who’s doing it to see what’s happening to our city.

And I refuse to accept that caring about this is somehow petty.

The Mitchell wasn’t built simply to store books. Previous generations built places like this with beauty and grandeur because they believed ordinary Glaswegians, knowledge and civic life were worth something.

We inherited their city.

For a little while, it’s ours to look after.

That’s what struck me about the man with the bucket. He wasn’t cleaning his property. He was cleaning our wall.

You can’t manufacture that through government policy. It comes from something much older and more important: the belief that where you live belongs to you in some small way, and therefore you owe something back to it.

Within a few hundred yards today I saw two attitudes towards Glasgow.

One says: I can do what I like to this place.

The other says: This is our place. I’ll look after it.

I know which one builds a city.

And I know which one destroys it

[Geemac @__missmac__]

If anyone wants to support John on his birthday, a wee donation can go along way to help those facing hard times 💪💚

[Michael Kavanagh @kavanaghmichael]

How that village idiot Boyd gets to talk about football on tv I’ll never know.

[Sky Sports Scotland @ScotlandSky]

🔵 "I cannot see this St Johnstone team doing much"

Kris Boyd expects a difficult season for Simo Valakari's side ⤵️

[The Figen @TheFigen_]

❤️😂😂

[Bothered @Botheredalot]

mornin'

[Politics For You @PoliticoForYou]

🚨 Rangers fans can be quite difficult to place on a political spectrum.

But only because they’re often wearing a poppy, doing a Hitler salute and waving an Israeli flag, all at the same time.

[Eintracht Frankfurt @eintrachtint]

4️⃣6️⃣🥳
Happy birthday, Du-Ri Cha! 🦅
#SGE

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

One of the many reasons why Kevin Keegan is special is that he makes other people feel special, and that's a great gift. Keegan is a footballing great who wears his greatness lightly. He’s King Kev and a man of the people. He's never forgotten his Doncaster roots, indeed is very proud of them, and the work ethic inherited from his father and grandfather, both miners.

A work ethic that propelled Keegan to the top. The great smell of Brut - and sweat. That was Keegan the player. He maximised every last ounce of his talent. That's one of the many reasons he's always been so respected. Another of the many reasons why there is such an outpouring of love for Keegan, and so many messages of support as he undergoes treatment for cancer, is that as a footballer he reached for the stars with his feet firmly on the ground.

Keegan is one of the greatest footballers in English and European history, a European champion with Liverpool, a two-time Ballon d’Or winner at Hamburg, a much-loved Newcastle United player and manager, and whole-hearted in his work with England as player and manager. Diego Maradona asked for his shirt after an Argentina-England game in 1980. Keegan played against Pele, George Best and Johan Cruyff. And yet he’s as down to earth as they come. In fact, he often sends himself up.

He cares for people. I went to interview him once at Maiden Castle, Durham, where Newcastle were training at the time and Keegan was the manager of the Entertainers. He sent a message to say he’d come to the pavilion for a chat when training was finished. Great. I might get an early train home. A member of Newcastle’s staff mentioned that Kevin might take a while because this was a day when fans were allowed in to watch.

He stepped off the pitch, and spent around an hour signing autographs, chatting away, never rushing people, just making them feel special. He dropped to his haunches so he could talk to one kid in a wheelchair, making eye contact, and having a proper chat. It meant the world to this kid that Keegan cared. He reached the pavilion, changed, and gave me 20 minutes of his time. He’s incredibly generous with his time. And there have always been so many demands on it.

He tells the story that his determination to sign every autograph and meet every picture request dates back to a moment when, as a kid, he was snubbed by a Doncaster Rovers player. Keegan had waited after a Rovers game, politely approached his favourite player, and got knocked back. He’s never forgotten the hurt he felt. So he makes sure he fulfils every autograph request – no matter how long the queue.

I hosted a talk with Keegan at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in 2018. He was promoting his autobiography so was obviously going to be accommodating. But, typically, he went above and beyond. Smartly suited, Keegan arrived so early that only the security guy was there. Keegan patiently chatted away with the security guy, asking him about his job, where he lived, just being friendly because that is Kevin Keegan for you. Interested in people. Good to them.

Later, when the talk to the audience finished, Keegan headed into the Waterstones’ tent to sign books. The queue was huge. The Festival was closing for the night but Keegan stayed two hours to make sure everyone had their copy signed or their shirt. One lady had her Liverpool jacket signed (below). Keegan not only signed but had a joke and a laugh and a picture with them all.

On Boxing Day, Keegan was at Scunthorpe United, his first club, promoting non-League football. He joined in the carols and got behind the bar, pulling pints, helping out, spreading laughter. Because that’s what Kevin Keegan does – spreads joy. And that’s one of the many, many reasons people are rooting for Kevin Keegan at this challenging time.

[Michael Kavanagh @kavanaghmichael]

@MattLindsayHT