IT IS likely Kevin Keegan made his last appearance at St James Park yesterday if we are to believe reports at the weekend.

The former United boss has 19 months left on his contract and says he is ready to bring his managerial career to an end when it finishes.

Take Sir Bobby Robson or Gordon Strachan as test cases and it's unlikely he will see out next season.

Robson and Strachan both started their respective campaigns knowing it would be their last and neither were allowed to finish them.

If this is to be Keegan's last season in charge as a Premiership manager it will be a shame if he ends his managerial career without a major piece of silverware.

His teams have given 12 years of sheer delight to the football world.

One legacy he left United when he quit in 1997 was £15m striker Alan Shearer.

Like Keegan, the Premiership's top goalscorer is in his final season and most believe it will be an even bigger tragedy should the Magpies' skipper not add to the sole league winners medal he claimed at Blackburn.

Although United's 34-year-old hotshot will not publicly admit it, he probably felt let down when Keegan quit St James' Park.

When Shearer turned down a move to Old Trafford to join Newcastle United he turned his back on cupboard full of medals to realise a boyhood dream.

Keegan also promised silverware would follow but six short months later he was gone and Shearer can only reflect on what might have been had he moved north west instead of North-East.

Two who moved to Manchester were Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler.

Unlike Shearer, both had won medals before they arrived to play for Keegan.

But many question whether they have the hunger anymore after giving almost anonymous performances last season.

In signing McManaman on a free transfer from Real Madrid and picking up £10m Leeds' striker Fowler for £3m, most agreed Keegan had made astute signings of proven quality.

But neither player has reproduced anything of what we had previously come to expect from them and many point the finger at the pair for City's malaise last term.

Yesterday McManaman started in central midfield, a role he employed at Madrid.

It is hard to believe the former Liverpool player winger has two Champions League winners medals on yesterday's performance.

Gone are the days where his trickery and pace used to bewitch opposing full-backs with nonchalant ease.

In its place, and what we have now come to expect from him, is an unremarkable crab-like performance passing backwards and sideways.

Fowler, on the other hand, showed a little of his old self with a few deft touches and won himself a penalty from Nicky Butt's clumsy challenge.

Both are likely to be at the City of Manchester Stadium when Keegan calls it a day.

Whether City fans will remember King Kev for his two flop signings or his enterprising football remains to be seen.

United fans, however, will never forget Shearer, and will always remember - if it is to be his last game at St James' Park - that he left them with another glimpse of the legacy usually associated with one of his sides - attractive, fast-flowing, fluent, end-to-end football, and a 4-3 defeat of course.

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