Doncaster author pens book about Kevin Keegan running a football team in space

A Doncaster author has penned an out of this world book, imagining Armthorpe born football idol Kevin Keegan managing a team in space.
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Doncaster writer Scott Innes will release Galactic Keegan later this month, his debut novel which tells the stoy of the former Liverpool, Newcastle and England hero managing a football team on a distant planet.

Set in the near future, Earth has been invaded by the L’zuhl, an aggressive, imperialistic alien race who have laid waste to the galaxy for centuries.

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The few human survivors have been evacuated to the farthest reaches of space to rebuild and fight back against the L’zuhl onslaught.

The new book imagines Kevin Keegan running a football team in outer space.The new book imagines Kevin Keegan running a football team in outer space.
The new book imagines Kevin Keegan running a football team in outer space.

There on the distant planet of Palangonia, in a large, walled compound that houses the new human colony, lives the former Newcastle United and England boss Kevin Keegan, now manager of Palangonia FC.

As the war rages, Keegan would love it if he could focus on the most important thing – picking up three points on Saturday against the neighbouring nebula – but with whispers of a L’zuhl spy on the loose in the compound, it falls to Keegan himself to find the culprit before it is too late.

Priced at £9.99, the book will be released on May 28 and stems from Scott’s cult @GalacticKeegan Twitter account, set up in 2014 and which has more than 70,000 followers.

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The novel combines the sci-fi surrealism of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with the affectionate parody and football humour that make the account so beloved.

Scott, who was born in 1984 in Doncaster is now based in East Sussex and has worked for the NHS in various capacities for almost fifteen years.

Five years ago, one slow afternoon at work, it occurred to Scott that he hadn't seen the football celebrity and his former hero, Kevin Keegan, in the news for a while.

For all Scott knew 'Kevin might as well be in outer space'. And that throwaway comment was the trigger for creating his Twitter account, chronicling Keegan's trials and tribulations running a football team on the distant planet of Palangonia.

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Keegan was born on Valentine’s Day 1951 at 32 Elm Place, Armthorpe to English parents of part Irish ancestry and he attended his local school, St. Peter’s High School in nearby Cantley.

At the age of 16, Keegan was spotted playing at amateur level for Pegler, his employer at the time, and signed by fourth division Scunthorpe United – one of just two professional sides in the division.

Reputedly rejected by his home town club of Doncaster Rovers for being too small, Keegan became a first team regular and scored 18 goals in 124 games, attracting the attention of the Merseyside giants Liverpool with legendary boss Bill Shankly snapping him up for £35,000 in 1971.

The move proved to be the beginning of the soccer star’s rise to fame - and becoming a global icon of the game.

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During a glittering spell with the Reds, he won three First Division titles, the UEFA Cup twice, the FA Cup and the European Cup and also became an England regular, making his debut in 1972, becoming captain in 1976 and scoring 21 goals for his country in 63 games - although his World Cup career was limited to just 26 minutes at the 1982 finals in Spain.

Further successful spells followed at Hamburg, Southampton and Newcastle before he made the step into management, taking the reins at Newcastle, (twice), Fulham and Manchester City and of course, England, who he managed from 1999-2000.

His infamous “love it” rant against Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson as he struggled to cope with the pressure at Newcastle made headlines around the globe. Now a TV pundit, he still makes regular visits to Doncaster where he remains a hometown hero.