Sir Alex Ferguson pays tribute to former rival Kevin Keegan

Sir Alex Ferguson has paid tribute to his former rival Kevin Keegan, celebrating him for building Newcastle's "best ever team".

The former Manchester United boss outlined his huge respect for Keegan, who died at the age of 75 after a battle with cancer.

Speaking to Track Radio, Ferguson, who was famously the target of Keegan's "I'd love it, absolutely love it, if we beat them" rant, said: "I had the utmost respect for him. We had many duels when he was manager of Newcastle, but I have to say the job he did at Newcastle was fantastic.

"He re-energised that club and he brought that enthusiasm and fanaticism that great supporters can give. That's the job he did.

"And he also brought three great players to the club - [David] Ginola, [Faustino] Asprilla, Philippe Albert - and added a bit of class to the team, and I must say the challenges we had with Newcastle at that time at United were huge.

"Kevin carried the love of the game on his sleeve, there's no question about that, and that carried right on to the fans, to the players.

"That period at Newcastle was of emotion, it was excitement. They brought these great players to the club too and they added to it, and it gave Newcastle - I think - their best ever team."

That emotion came out during a Sky Sports interview in April 1996 when the former England striker delivered an outburst as Sir Alex's United closed the distance with Newcastle - before ultimately beating them to the title.

But Ferguson revealed the pair bumped into each other at a pub a few weeks after the season had ended and spent the night around a piano together.

Ferguson said: "The great thing about him, he held no grudges. That was a fantastic quality he had and we had a great night.

"All aside whatever happened in previous weeks, that was soon forgotten. I really respected him for that."

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Keegan's death, announced on Monday, saw a range of tributes to the former Scunthorpe, Liverpool, Hamburg, Southampton and Newcastle player.

Sir Trevor Brooking, who played alongside him for England, said: "I am so very sad to hear the devastating news about my friend and former team-mate Kevin Keegan.

"My friendship with Kevin goes back many decades, to our playing days for England. We were lucky enough to develop a real understanding on the field of play and know what each other was thinking.

"Kevin liked to run and find space on the pitch and I'd try to time my passes to give him the best chance to use his world-class skills to score.

"We roomed together on England duty and Kevin, with his bubbly character, was never shy of making jokes, often at my expense!

"I recently met up for lunch with Kevin and Jean when they were visiting London. Although it had been a while since we'd last seen each other, we picked up our conversation as if it had been yesterday.

"That afternoon, reminiscing about our footballing days, is one I will always treasure.

"Our thoughts and love are with Jean, Laura, Sarah and all of Kevin's family at this sad time."

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