Michael Keeping

Southampton

Keeping was born in Milford on Sea where he was spotted playing for his home-town club, Milford on Sea F.C., and was signed by Southampton, then still in the Southern League, in the summer of 1919 for a bargain fee of £25. Still only 16, Keeping was registered as an amateur but paid 10 shillings (50p) a week for travelling expenses. He signed as a professional in December 1920 but only made his first-team debut on 25 October 1924, in a Football League Division 2 match at Hull City as a replacement for the long-serving Fred Titmuss who was injured. In his first season he made only seven league appearances. In the following season, he again started as an understudy to Titmuss but in October he took over at left-back and retained his position, with Titmuss leaving the club in February 1926. He soon blossomed into an outstanding left-back who "oozed class and being fleet of foot could turn on the run to sweep the ball straight up the touchline to the waiting winger". He was selected for an international trial in February 1926 and joined an F.A. party on a tour of Canada in the summer. He continued to display his skills in the Second Division and was an ever-present for the Saints in 1926–27 both in the league and in their run to the F.A. Cup semifinal at Stamford Bridge on 26 March 1927, which Southampton lost 1–2 to Arsenal. During this season manager Arthur Chadwick soon settled on his favoured line-up with eleven players featuring in at least 35 of the 42…

From February 1948 to October 1950 he was coach at Real Madrid CF with which he won the Copa Eva Duarte, precursor of the Spanish Supercup, winning the final as cup winner of 1947 against the champions of 1947 Valencia CF in June 1948. In his first match his team allowed four goals in a 1–4 defeat to Celta de Vigo, a feat only repeated in August 2018 when Julen Lopetegui lost his first match 2–4 to Atlético de Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup final. Best league placings were the third and fourth ranks in 1949 and 1950. He was sacked in October 1950, after the eighth matchday for unsuitable remarks. Preceding there were also some hefty defeats in the league against Real Sociedad, FC Barcelona and Deportivo la Coruña with results of 2–6, 2–7 and 0–5. After having had an administrative position with a Dutch side, in January 1959 he became successor of Stan Rickaby at Southern League club Poole Town. Between September 1960 and January 1961, when he unexpectedly resigned for family reasons, he returned to England to get married, he was manager of the Dutch second division side Heracles Almelo. He is also reported to have held positions in Denmark, France and North Africa.

His father was the Olympic medal winning cyclist Frederick Keeping.