Read the full article here

Hayley Crosbie keeps a charming story about Kevin Keegan in her back pocket.

When she was nine years old, Hayley and her family were visiting Anfield. Keegan wanted to sign her brother, John Marshall, for Newcastle United. He was willing to throw in a Rover car to sweeten the deal and asked Hayley if she wanted anything.

Keegan swiftly agreed to her ambitious request for a limousine, and the entire conversation took place in the office of Roy Evans, who, as Liverpool manager, was also pursuing John. Manchester United and Everton were interested too, as were Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa. Everybody was.

The Marshalls had only recently returned to the north-west from Bournemouth. As soon as the football fraternity learned that John was leaving Portsmouth, the phone at the new home of his parents, Maureen and John, started to ring.

By 1995, John was a graduate of Lilleshall, the Football Association’s residential school of excellence. He was an England Schoolboy international and had played at Wembley.