Keegan gets £1.25m transfer kitty in bid to ease crisis

KEVIN KEEGAN has been given a £1.25m transfer kitty to drag Manchester City out of their current crisis.

Keegan watched his side collapse in the second half at Fratton Park as Portsmouth came from behind to record a 4-2 Premiership win that extended City’s winless streak to 14 games.

If that was not bad enough, first-choice keeper David Seaman is facing two months on the sidelines with a suspected broken collarbone and former Blues favourite Eyal Berkovic heaped on even more pressure by claiming Keegan had “lost” the City dressing room and should be sacked.

Berkovic’s outspoken comments, coming less than 48 hours after he ended six months of misery by moving to Pompey, have intensified talk over Keegan’s position.

However, the former England manager retains the trust of the board, who were involved in an even more frightening incident on their way home last night when their plane was forced to make an emergency landing after one of the engines caught fire.

A City spokesman yesterday dismissed reports Keegan was facing the sack as “garbage.” Instead he has been told he can reinvest the money he received from the sale of Berkovic and Darren Huckerby.

“I can spend what I got in, which gives me a bit of leeway,” he said.

“A goalkeeper is the main priority but if something else crops up that we think will make us better, I have got some money to bring someone in.”

The City boss has an acute need to bring in a goalkeeper because he does not see young Dane Kevin Ellegaard as having the experience required to operate in the Premiership.

For a club £50m in debt, life in the Nationwide League is unthinkable and although the Blues’ financial plight is not as dire as that of Leeds, chairman John Wardle will not need reminding that Leicester, Bradford, Ipswich, Wimbledon and Barnsley all ended up in administration after falling out of the top flight.