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By Mike Collett
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Kevin Keegan's departure as Newcastle United manager on Thursday less than eight months after taking the job will come as no great surprise to anyone who has followed his career.
For a second time, the 'dream ticket' given to Keegan, of coaching the club he once played for, has ended up crumpled up on the floor like a discarded betting slip.
His return to Newcastle in January after nearly three years out of the game since leaving Manchester City in 2005 was greeted by fans as the Second, or even Third, Coming.
Keegan was also delighted to be back at St James' Park, 11 years after his sudden departure as manager in Jan. 1997.
He was right not to promise the long-suffering Geordies instant success. His opening match was a turgid 0-0 draw with Bolton Wanderers and he failed to win any of his first eight league games in charge.
However, Newcastle were never in serious danger of relegation and this season was supposed to herald the start of an exciting new era for a club that has not won a major domestic trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 1955.
Now, after just three games of the new league season -- an opening 1-1 draw at champions Manchester United, a 1-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers and a 3-0 away defeat by Arsenal -- the 57-year-old has gone again and Newcastle face more uncertainty.
Keegan was in charge for just 21 competitive matches, winning only six, and never came close to reproducing the brand of exciting attacking football that had became Newcastle's trademark during his first spell in charge.
EXALTED STATUS
Keegan earned his exalted status in Newcastle when he came to the club as a player towards the end of a glittering career with Liverpool, Hamburg SV, Southampton and England.
Newcastle were in the old second division and he helped them win promotion back to the top flight.
He left St James' Park by helicopter from the centre circle, still dressed in his black-and-white kit, after his last match for the club in May 1984.
When he came back as manager in 1992 they seemed to be heading for the old third division and a bleak future.
Within two years, they finished third in the Premier League with a team including exciting forwards like David Ginola, Les Ferdinand and Peter Beardsley.
They then came close to winning the title in the 1995-96 season before blowing a 12-point lead over Manchester United who were crowned champions.
His famous television rant at Alex Ferguson's United when he blasted "I would love it if we beat them, love it," is now a classic footballing moment, and been shown countless times.
That outburst also showed his vulnerability -- and just how impulsive he can be.
Keegan showed that side of his character again when he quit the England job immediately after a World Cup qualifying defeat by Germany in the last match played at the old Wembley Stadium in October 2000.
Keegan said in his biography he did not like the way the money men had changed football and Newcastle in the mid-1990s -- though that now seems a quaint era by comparison with the billionaires now running the top clubs in the English game.
Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is among the new super-rich club owners but also one who considers himself a man of the people, going to matches in his black-and-white striped Newcastle shirt.
The fact that Ashley and Keegan have now parted company leaves the future of not only Newcastle, but also Keegan, mired in uncertainty.
For, whatever the reasons for his departure, this may well prove to be Keegan's final exit both from Tyneside and a big club in the English top-flight.
