US Edition KEVIN KEEGAN sensationally resigned as England manager last night after the team's last match at Wembley ended in a humiliating 1-0 defeat to Germany in a World Cup qualifying game.
Keegan, 49, who took the job only last year, took full responsibility for the defeat. He said: "I have had all the help I have needed but I have not been quite good enough. It's the end of the road for me.I have wished all the players the best and I know it's not good timing but there's never a good time. I look forward to life outside football."
Keegan said that before the match he had thought that he might resign if England lost. He said: "I feel I have had more than a fair chance. I have no complaints against the media. There's no one to blame for myself. I am not the man to take it a stage further and I know that."
His resignation comes just days before England's second World Cup qualifying game against Finland in Helsinki on Wednesday. Adam Crozier, chief executive of the Football Association said the timing was "not ideal". He said: "It puts us in a very difficult position. It's a huge disappointment because the whole nation wanted it to succeed with Kevin Keegan."
Last night speculation was growing over who would succeed Keegan. Terry Venables has been installed as 4/1 favourite by William Hill. Peter Taylor is 6/1, John Gregory 7/1. Other contenders are Bryan Robson, Peter Reid, Arsene Wenger and Alan Curbishley.
This is the third time Keegan has resigned from a prominent managerial job. He left Newcastle and later Fulham in order to take on the England post full-time. Alan Shearer, the former England captain, said: "I am amazed. He has done his best but feels now that he must go. When he feels something, he does it."
Keegan announced his resignation shortly after the final whistle yesterday. A 13th-minute goal by Dietmar Hamann, who also plays for Liverpool, ensured that the 77-year-old stadium was not given a glorious send-off before the bulldozers move in next month.
It was a depressing end to a day that had started full of hope when Sir Bobby Charlton, a hero of England's 1966 World Cup-winning side, led out the England team.