THE former Blues boss always gave the impression that if he wasn't tinkering with his squad then he wasn't happy and his reliance on bringing in established names that clearly had already had their best days with other clubs has proved something of a short-sighted policy.
On the plus side his capture of Ali Benarbia, albeit by accident after the Algerian alchemist had been for a trial at Sunderland, and Eyal Berkovic were just what the fans needed. That he has never replaced either of them can go a long way to explaining the team not hurtling its way into the Uefa Cup qualification race.
Smashing the transfer record by bringing in world class striker Nicolas Anelka was a gamble that paid off in terms of goals if not team spirit but at least it signalled his intent.
Despite a preoccupation with a big name goalkeeper - Schmeichel, Seaman and James - there was initially too little attention paid to the defence which although performing much better now to this day remains threadbare in terms of depth below the first team.
Many of his high-profile, well-remunerated signings have not come off and smacked more of personal indulgence than necessity. Why for instance did he need overload the midfield by buying Trevor Sinclair, Steve McManaman, Antoine Sibierski and Claudio Reyna all in one summer?
It would not have seemed so excessive a policy had the two best players this season, virtually week in and week out, not been Shaun Wright-Phillips and Richard Dunne, two men that Keegan didn't bring to the club.
Having spent the best part of '50million and seeing no discernable improvement in the his team's performances, Keegan was stumped this summer when he could only tinker while others most notably Birmingham and Middlesbrough of those teams in City's bracket shelled out millions of pounds.
The upshot is that Keegan has left City with an ageing squad some of whom are on big money and some of whom are on long contracts. That is something the new boss will have to get to grips with quickly.
While the likes of Anelka and James have been a relative success others did not prosper.
The near '4m splashed out on Argentina's Matias Vuoso is the most cringe worthy episode of wasting money but '1.5m was also splashed out on Christian Negouai and the same amount on youngsters Kevin Ellegaard and Mikkel Bischoff neither of whom, judging by the number of games they played, ever gained Keegan's full confidence. David Sommeil cost '3.5m but has played once in the last 14 months and fewer than 40 times in all.
Surely Keegan could have found a similar level of talent in the youth teams from where Steven Elliott and Dickson Etuhu have already gone on to make good careers in the First Division.
In all Keegan spent '48.75m and almost tripled the wage bill from Joe Royle's more frugal days at the helm.
He emptied the pot at the height of the market and now there is nothing left. Even more worrying is that if all those players that he bought were sold today City would be lucky to raise '15m!
The fact that so many talented youngsters have emerged through the Academy under Keegan is commendable and will be looked at enviously by many of the Premierships middle ranking teams but it is arguable whether many of them got their chance through supreme planning from the manager or just sheer chance.
The way some were shuffled in an out as more experienced names became available after injury or suspension, sadly suggests the latter.
Here, ManchesterOnline runs the rule over his City signings.
Ronald Waterreus Out of Contract 26/08/2004 Free Transfer
A seasoned performer with experience for PSV Eindhoven and Holland, Waterreus looked solid against Arsenal in the 2-1 Carling Cup defeat. A shrewd piece of business.
MOL mark: 7
Danny Mills Leeds United 13/07/2004 Free Transfer
Although inconsistent, Mills' international experience has added steel to City's much-improved back line.
MOL mark: 7
Ben Thatcher Leicester City 21/06/2004 '100,000
Limited impact so far because of injury, but his Premiership experience and tough tackling has shone through.
MOL mark: 7
David James West Ham United 14/01/2004 '2,000,000
His two penalty saves against Leicester and Wolves played a major part in the club's Premiership survival last time around, and his early 2004/2005 season form has reminded everyone of his quality.
MOL mark: 9
Steve McManaman Real Madrid 30/08/2003 Free Transfer
The former Liverpool star has struggled to shake off injuries and show the sort of form that once made him a Champions League winner. Question marks remain over his motivation.
MOL mark: 5
Claudio Reyna Sunderland 29/08/2003 '2.5million
Has never managed a sustained run in the side because of a raft of injuries.
MOL mark: 6
Antoine Sibierski Lens 02/08/2003 '700,000
Strong in the air and a useful utility man, the Frenchman is a decent squad player. Blues fans would have been looking for more goals though.
MOL mark: 6
Paul Bosvelt Feyenoord 24/07/2003 Undisclosed amount
Bosvelt has stood firm this season while the rest of City's midfield take their turns in the treatment room - a fine competitor in the engine room.
MOL mark: 8
Trevor Sinclair West Ham United 21/07/2003 '2.5million
Has been beset by injury since his arrival and for the money, City have seen scant return.
MOL mark: 5
David Seaman Arsenal 04/06/2003 Free
His time at City proved a season too far and although Keegan brought him in for free Seaman was a weak link at the back.
MOL mark: 4
Michael Tarnat Bayern Munich 04/06/2003 Free
His set-piece play was top-quality even if his legs were not fully up to it in defence.
MOL mark: 6
Robbie Fowler Leeds United 30/01/2003 '6,000,000
After a poor start Folwer is finally showing signs of his old brilliance. Since Anelka's departure he has revelled in the leading striker's role and his razor sharp touch is still evident. He must, though, sustain his form for another season to justify that hefty price tag.
MOL mark: 6
David Sommeil Marseille 24/01/2003 '3,500,000
After a promising start Sommeil has struggled and lost his first-team place.
MOL mark: 4
Nicolas Anelka Paris St Germain 06/06/2002 '13,000,000
Although he can look uninterested at times, you cannot argue with his Premiership goal record - 16 in the 2003/2004 season and six so far in this one.
MOL mark: 9
Vicente Matias Vuoso Independiente 06/06/2002 '4,500,000
Never made a Premiership appearance and ultimately represents money wasted.
MOL mark: 0
Sylvain Distin Paris St Germain 20/05/2002 '4,000,000
A fine addition to the squad with pace, experience and a good fitness record, and looks like putting an indifferent last season behind him.
MOL mark: 8
Mikkel Bischoff AB Copenhagen 15/05/2002 '750,000
Young Danish defender who has been plagued by injury and only made two senior starts, but he might yet come good.
MOL mark: 4
Peter Schmeichel Aston Villa 13/04/2002 Free
Unlike Seaman, Schmeichel played superbly for the Blues making some trademark stops.
MOL mark: 9
Jonathan Macken Preston North End 04/03/2002 '5,000,000
There are still major doubts over Macken's Premiership pedigree - especially considering his mammoth transfer fee - but he is a willing runner and holds the ball up well.
MOL mark: 6
Jihai Sun Dalian Wanda Shide 02/03/2002 '2,000,000
Committed utility man who was running into good form before being ruled out for the season against Chelsea.
MOL mark: 7
Niclas Jensen FC Copenhagen, 16/01/2202 '700,000
Danish international whose dependable left foot was offset by a lack of pace in defence.
MOL mark: 7
Christian Negouai Charleroi 16/11/2001 '1,500,000
Negouai has all but disappeared from the first-team picture since punching a goal in against Rotherham.
MOL mark: 4
Lucien Mettomo St Etienne 28/09/2001 '1,500,000
Despite a credible performance in the 3-1 win derby win against the Reds, Mettomo wasn't one of Kev's favourites and eventually moved on before the 2003/2004 season.
MOL mark: 6
Ali Benarbia Paris St Germain 14/09/2001 Free
Definitely one of Keegan's top signings. Benarbia was instrumental in promotion to the Premiership with his sparkling midfield play.
MOL mark: 9
Eyal Berkovic Celtic 21/07/2004 '1,500,000
Gifted playmaker who showed his Premiership class on many occasions for City.
MOL mark: 8
Stuart Pearce West Ham United 20/06/2001 Free
Brought in to add experience at the back, Pearce is now a coach and has proved a valuable asset to the Blues set-up.
MOL mark: 8
Overall verdict: There have been some fine acquisitions ' Benarbia, Distin and Anelka stand out ' but taken as a whole there have been more misses than hits, with Vuoso and Negouai in particular offering little value for money. Although the quality is there on paper, too many seem to have failed to deliver on aconsistent basis.
What is your verdict on Keegan's buys during his time in the Man City hot-seat?
Comments
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Keegans buys have not only been awful but have put this club in the financial crisis it finds itself in now.
Is there any point in expecting the MEN to provide objective views on the club? If 'value for money' is defined correctly we should look at the opportunity cost of each buy. ie what could we have done with the money that was spent on each of them had we not actually bought them.
Reyna 6? He may be a half decent player but we bought a crock, knew he was a crock, and he's costing probably B#30k per week over the course of his contract as well as a B#3m fee. That's 2 at the best for me?
Fowler 5? Please don't make me laugh.
I don't hold KK entirely to blame. He has to be given the money. And the board has been happy to dish out exhorbitant wages on ageing mediocrity ever since Bernstein was ousted over the Fowler / Sommeil winter of discontent.
We now have a load of players draining our finances, prodcuing dross, and not worth anything in re-sell value.
And the players keeping us afloat ... SWP, Flood, Barton, Dunne, Jordan. Cost KK not a penny.
Our manager has squandered a wonderful opportunity at this club (that he helped create), and the Board have indulged him to the point of negligence.
Value for money? Give me a break!
Difficult to pass comprehensive judgement without knowing attendant salaries as well. Anelka is the one true gem but I can't see him staying past December (He'll be one of the better non-cuptied Champions League players around come January). Elk & Distin apart, Keegan's record is poor - Fowler, Sinclair, Sommeil & Vuoso cost a staggering B#17m.
(Incredible when we couldn't afford Butt at B#2m or Van Buyten at B#3m.) The Vuoso deal beggars belief while Bernstein managed to stop Fowler costing B#5m more before unfortunately getting the boot. Bernarbia ,while excellent business, actually appeared to be lucky (wasn't he on the way to Sunderland at the time of signing?) - suggesting that our policy lacks planning & preparation (Surely we could have done some better homework on Vuoso, Sinclair & Fowler?) I would be looking for a new man before spending any more - Dowie, Curbishley or Jewell perhaps?
I'm beginning to think if any of Keegans premiership buys were value for money at this moment in time. Yeah, Anelka shows his class in patches, but you expect more goals from someone who is so highly rated. Distin is probably the next best signing, but he can look like a first division defender a lot of the time. So overall keegans signings have been disastrous, crippling the club financially, and making us fans very dissapointed indeed.
With the exception of Anelka all the other signings were either short term, ie nearing or at the end of their playing days, or have not made the grade. Ali Bernabia was a wonderful aquisition as was Peter Schmeichel but both to old to build a team around, as for the rest if they are as good as your ranking why didnt we finish higher up the table. Joe Royal learned the hard way that playing a multitude of defenders to keep a 0-0 score line leads to relegation. KK is going the same way. We need class midfield players with skill and vision and confidence otherwise we will again be fighting relegation. Sorry I dont think KK and his staff can spot good young talent
Vuoso didn't cost B#4.5 million. That's the total figure the fee would have risen to based on appearances. B#1.5 million was paid upfront. One of the reasons he never played a first team game was to avoid paying any further installments. As he was sold for close to a million his signing cost us around half a million.
I cannot believe we will give any more money to a manager who missed out on B#15M for Sebiano Argentinian crock, or B#5M for Diego Moron! He also missed out on the drug test dodger at B#18M (8 month ban!). Oh sorry, we're not talking about fergie here are we?
Si its 51.7 million quid.........and he wants more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Afternoon ladies whats happening. Is kev still a God, just checking. Hear your looking some transfer funds, me and a couple of mates sell a few dodgy things every Sunday down the car booty, why don`t you as a team bring a couple of players you never you might just get a few quid?
I would not give him the money to buy the M.E.N, let alone for more players.
I agree that his major hit The Elk will be off in the Jan window, oh well at least we will still have our 11 million strikeforce of Macken and Fowler to fall back on, perhaps the new Patrick Viera AKA Negaoui will come to the for.
Its a double edged sword scenario, we need badly new blood, if we don't we will be in for another major struggle this year, but would you give it to KK to spend.
See you all at Pompey !!
When a player is actually sold, you can put his performances next to what he did or did not cost the club and than value his influence for City.
Furthermore it seems the 'cheap' players were the best buys. So don't give him a lot of money (there isn't any anyway) and let KK be creative (like Berkovic and Benarbia) or make him use our youth players more often.
why does McManaman get 5 - overpaid, hardly plays, one good game. How does Reyna get 6? - Inconsistent, injury prone. Seaman? retired half way through a season due to lack of form! Sinclair - injury prone. Fowler?!? Overpaid, lack of form. Sommeil 4? one good season, out on loan almost ALL of last season, cracking buy at 3.5m. Don't agree with the ratings myself......
KK's best buys were Benarbia and Berkovic. Since they've gone the midfield has looked second rate, except SWP.
There is no doubt that KK has wasted at least B#15m on transfer fees, Vuoso, Negoui, Macken, Fowler, Reyna, Sommeil, and more on massive wages. In my opinion no more money should be made available by the Board until a new manager has been appointed, whenever that might be.
It would appear reading the comments so far, that the majority of contributors, if not all, would not give KK another penny to waste.
This seems to be in direct contradiction to the poll you are carrying out , which has 62% saying the board should give him more money.
Well, along with the rest who have bothered to write, I have to say that I wouldn't give KK another penny. There have been too many bad buys.
The only rider that I would attach to this is aquestion I have been asking for awhile now. If we were to get another manager, given the supposed lack of funds, could anyone get any more out of the current set of "players" at the club.
If the answer is NO, we will have to carry on with KK and perhaps give him limited funds to try and keep us in the Premiership.
Some serious thinking needs to be done at board level. This time last season I was saying that all the home draws were relegation form.
Well this season even by KK's own admission we are not playing as well as last season. The performance against, now who was it last Saturday, oh yes Blackburn, mind you it could have been any of the bottom teams, was appalling.
Clearly if the board say's no to KK the chances are he will walk.
Let's hope this time the right decission is made.
I'm begining to ramble. It's just that I find the whole situation so annoying.
I look forward to reading other peoples thoughts.
Certain player's that have come in haven't done themsleves any favours at all. KK at times has held onto grudges & last but not least a minority of supporters generally would find fault in the perfect damond. So really the club isnt unified in my opinion & is constantly giving the press etc its own bad publiciy !.
If the Board give money to Keegan they MUST tell him what kind of players he can buy - absolutely NO centrebacks.
We need a good midfielder - I keep on saying have a look at Koumas, sort of like a young Kevin Horlock. Great left foot.
Letting both Elliot and Wanchope go now looks like a criminal waste of resources. I'd be tempted to pay McManaman up in January - he's obviously never going to get fit - so let him go.
As for Blobby, well stick him in the reserves, if it's good enough for Barton and Macken (when he was coming back from injury) then it's good enough for Fowler. Or is Keegan scared that he won't score there either?
Get BWP on the bench and bring him on. Just how difficult is a game of football???
"Taken as a whole there have been more misses than hits."
Taking your scores as correct for the sake of argument, 18 score 6 or over, 8 score 5 or less.
Does not your own analysis suggest more hits than misses?
I can't understand the mentality of people who say we shouldn't release any more money for KK. Yes Keegan has made mistakes in the transfer market but I ask what manager hasn't? Many people complain that there is no quality at the club, the midfield is too lightweight, we need someone who can play alongside Anelka- all good arguments, and then say KK can have no more funds. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see how that is going to strengthen the team? OK so Keegan is set to walk away in 18 months time, so what are we to do? Not bring any new players in until the new man whoever that may be, takes over. All this says to Keegan is 'we don't trust you, so you may as well walk away now'. This would then mean the Board would have to bring in whoever is available, the best option probably being Strachan. Is Strachan a better manager than Keegan? In my opinion no he is not. We have a chance now to basically scout the world for the best man to manage Manchester City when KK steps down. That gives the board plenty of time to talk about it and draw up a hit list of potential managers. They probably already have. In the meantime I don't think our current failings are as bad as some fans make out. The biggest problem we have is breaking teams down at home, and we do need to sort this out- again with no funds available to the manager I don't see any quick fix solution. We are now an established middle of the road premiership side- something we would have been delighted to be able to say when Keegan took over. Me being an optimist, I see the City cup as being half full with just a couple of ingredients missing. In respect of the new manager coming in lets aim for someone who has a good reputation and is capable of taking us a step furhter than KK has, and not talk about nothing managers like Strachan and god forbid Megson.
KK's best work has been with youngsters, ie SWP, Dunne, Barton, kids coming through etc. I think Distin has been a great buy as was Anelka, lets be honest we would not have stayed up without him. So why does he then go and buy a load of 30 somethings with which he can have no influence. Vuoso and Fowler have been disgraces but everyone makes mistakes, KK was not the only one who thought Fowler was a good buy. I would give him some cash on the condition that they are under 26 and approved by Psycho. Letting Elliot go was a BIG mistake, may come back to haunt us
What bit of 'There's no money left!' does KK not understand? That goes for everyone who's debating whether or not to give him more B#. There's none to give.
We are B#62m in debt and rising!
It would be interesting to see where Charlton and Portsmouth finish in comparison to us come May 2005. Then compare bank balances. Just to see who's got what on their returns.
I'm betting we don't finish that much higher than Charlton and Portsmouth to warrant our substantial larger investment.
The difference between City and these two supposedly smaller clubs? Levels of realistic expectation for growth. There lies the problem. (See Leeds Utd).
Please no replies regarding Fan base because that won't cut it when they come around to claim our assets. Oh I forgot. We don't even own the ground do we?
people saying should not be given any money in January,nonsense.o.k. he has made some mistakes,but he has made one or two good buys,even taggart has bought some crap.With the injuries mountain up we need cover and not just relay on youngsters.
Yes Paul Handler, alot of what you say about the signings r true but some of your comments r not upto date, u expect 2 much from Fowler & also just as hes regaining his feet & also remember hes playing behind Anelka, i agree & disagree.
TRUE BLUE
can some one tell me how meny players we have made a profit on. not players who have come though the ranks like flitty/lomas but players bought in for millions and then given away !!!. kinklazede is the only one that springs to mind in for B#1m out for B#5m.
does it matter what players were good or bad or Kev has spent B#50 miilion (over 4 seasons not a massive outlay by preniership standards) the fact is he looks like keeping us in the premiership for the third season. Cant remember too many city managers doing that over the last few years. Keep the faith carry on Kev
awful! i wouldn't let him buy my shopping never mind players.