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Mick Channon leads racing’s tributes to Kevin Keegan
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Mon 20 Jul 2026
Leading racing figures have paid tribute to Kevin Keegan after the death of the former England player and manager – who also enjoyed success as a racehorse owner – at the age of 75.
It had been announced recently that Keegan had been undergoing treatment for stage four cancer. He was a prominent figure in the dominant Liverpool team of the 1970s and played for and managed Newcastle United, among others.
Mick Channon, who played alongside Keegan for England and Southampton after his high-profile move from Hamburg in Germany, was one of his closest friends, with the former trainer sparking his interest in racing.
Channon won the Listed Washington Singer Stakes with Keegan’s best horse, Funfair Wane, who would famously go on to land the Ayr Gold Cup twice after moving to David ‘Dandy’ Nicholls.
Mick Channon (right) goes back a long way with Kevin Keegan (left) (PA)
“It’s very sad,” Channon told the Press Association. “He was one of my best mates and we’ve known for a little while this was coming.
“I think as you get older yourself things like this get tougher. We had a great time together – when we were fit, young and well and with Bally (Alan Ball) too, we had a wonderful time with some real characters.
“Kevin came to Southampton a Ballon d’Or winner, but you wouldn’t have known, he had time for everyone and never once acted like the star that he was.
“Life was fun and football was part of it. I was the one who was mad into the racing but Kevin and Bally loved it too, racing was great fun for them and we did a lot of it.
“Kevin was just a smashing lad, a great human being. When you think of the profile he had… he never turned away any autograph or photo, he was a people person.
“We had some great fun all of us together, that’s how I’ll remember him.
“Kevin and Jean (wife) even bred a few horses and that added to the fun and then he became England manager which got in the way a bit!
“When you look back at his time with England he was one of the better ones really. He was a mate though, first and foremost. It’s a very sad day, but the poor lad is at rest now.”
Funfair Wane beat The Tatling to win his first Ayr Gold Cup (Ben Curtis/PA)
Adrian Nicholls rode Funfair Wane – who was bred by Jean Keegan – to the first of his two Ayr Gold Cup victories in 2002 and as a Sunderland fan remembers Keegan fondly.
“Winning an Ayr Gold Cup for him was special. I was just a middle-of-the-road jockey and he was such a high-profile footballer – we had some great conversations, especially with me being a Sunderland fan,” said Nicholls.
“He was such a cool guy to ride for, he never put you under any pressure. He could have got anybody to ride him but let me. To win one Ayr Gold Cup is hard enough but to win two was unbelievable.
“It’s a very sad day as he was just a legend of a bloke.
“It was down to Mick Channon how Dandy got Funfair. Mick recommended Dandy after he started to lose his way a bit and as they say, the rest is history.”
Kevin Keegan and Frankie Dettori promoted the 2020 Shergar Cup (Sean Dempsey/PA)
Ascot racecourse also called on Keegan to captain the European team in the second edition of the Shergar Cup in 2000, the first time the event was run at the track.
Keegan’s team took on a Rest of the World side captained by Frankie Dettori and is credited with giving the event the boost it needed to take off.
Nick Smith, director of racing and public affairs at Ascot, said: “Kevin was a well-known personality on the racecourse and we were privileged to work with him as team manager at the Shergar Cup in 2000, when his Team Europe beat Team Rest Of The World.
“As you’d expect, he was fantastic with the media, and the photo of Frankie Dettori on his back at the media morning appeared all over the mainstream press.
“Back in those days, the sporting managers signed caps and such like for the kids and even hosted masterclasses in their sport for them. It was a privilege to work with someone of Kevin’s profile and he brought a significant amount to the event.”
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