'Keegan's team talks would make you feel 10ft taller' - Howey

Former Newcastle United defender Steve Howey says Kevin Keegan showed everybody on Tyneside how "open, honest and beautiful" he was through his long-standing affiliation to the club. Howey played under Keegan throughout his entire first spell as Newcastle manager, with the pair taking the club back to the first division in 1992-93, and then reunited at Manchester City in May 2001. "He was a huge part of my career, particularly at the very start," Howey told BBC Radio Newcastle. "He came in when the club was pretty much heading to the worst possible scenario. As a young player at that time, I felt very uncertain about my future. "I came to the club as a midfielder and then I got moved to the forward line, so while me playing at centre-half was talked about before Kevin Keegan came in, I had never played that position before. "It was ridiculous because I had a conversation with him about it before I'd even played a competitive game at centre-half. He'd seen what he'd seen in training, and he said: 'Listen, if you want to say here, you can be a part of what I'm going to do'. He said that with his backing it would definitely be possible. "I just thought the man was absolutely crazy, to be honest, but there was me playing in the Premier League against the top strikers in the world and representing my country within three to four years." Tributes have been pouring in for Keegan on Tyneside and across football since his death at the age of 75 was announced on Monday . "He got the area and the fans. When we used to turn up at Maiden Castle, it would take him hours to actually get into the training ground because he'd make sure he had signed every bit of paper, taken every photograph and spoken to everybody. "That's what he was about. He was a person who just showed everybody how open, honest and beautiful he was. "His team talks would make you feel 10ft taller as you walked out of the dressing room. They weren't tactical or anything like that, you would just come out of them thinking: 'Nobody is going to beat us, nobody is going to beat me'. He had a great way of doing that. "He was an amazing person to be around and it rubbed off on all of us." Listen to the full conversation above or on BBC Sounds here Also listen to former Newcastle United player and physiotherapist Paul Ferris' tribute