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Born in the Little Horton district of Bradford, Ged Keegan joined City
as an apprentice in March 1973, still six months short of his 18th
birthday. Thought by some to be on the small side for a top quality
defender, full-back Keegan was both a tenacious tackler and good passer
of the ball and was finally rewarded with his first team debut on 19th
March 1975 in a 2-1 home defeat by Carlisle United. Coming on as a
substitute for the injured Mike Summerbee, Keegan kept his place in the
starting line-up for the next three games, with his fifth appearance
coming (as a substitute for Rodney Marsh) on the last day of the season
in a 1-1 draw at Luton. Manager Tony Book (himself a former right-back)
saw something in the young Keegan to give him a further 19/2 games of
the 1975/1976 season, one in which Keegan scored his first goals for the
club. He opened his account in January with a goal that levelled on
aggregate the League Cup semi-final with Middlesbrough and followed that
two months later with his first League goal, scored in a 3-2 success
over Wolves at Maine Road. In between those goals he'd appeared at
Wembley as a member of City's victorious League Cup side that beat
Newcastle United.
The 1975/76 season turned out to be Keegan's most
successful at Maine Road in terms of both appearances and goals. In
1976/77 he was replaced by Kenny Clements and managed just eight League
starts as the Blues finished runners-up to Liverpool in Division One. He
failed to make a start at all in 1977/78 when his appearances were
limited to just two from the subs' bench; at Leeds in December and then
again at home to Middlesbrough in March. Despite three successive starts
at the beginning of the 1978/79 campaign (two draws and a crushing 4-1
defeat at Liverpool) Keegan wouldn't feature again in the League until
December when he replaced the injured Clements for just the one game. It
turned out to be the last of his 39/9 appearances for the club. He was
transferred to Oldham Athletic in February 1979 where he played more
than 140 times in the League over the next four years, many times
alongside his former Maine Road colleague Kenny Clements. Keegan later
moved to Mansfield Town before finishing his career at Rochdale. (Ian Penney - author of The Legends of Manchester City).
Senior career.
Years Team Games Goals
1975–1978 Manchester City 37 (2)
1978–1983 Oldham Athletic 144 (5)
1983–1984 Mansfield Town 18 (1)
1984–1985 Rochdale 2 (0)
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