Former Irish League manager – and current Northern Ireland U21 chief – Tommy Wright has declared he would have been “foolish not to” take lessons learned from his time working with Kevin Keegan at Newcastle United into his own coaching career.

Many of Wright’s 88 appearances for the St James’ Park outfit came under legendary figure Keegan, who passed away aged 75 on Monday.

During their time together at Newcastle, Wright and Keegan helped preserve the club’s Second Division status and sealed Premier League promotion, winning the First Division title in 1993.

Former Northern Ireland international goalkeeper Wright has gone on to forge a successful managerial career of his own, starting out at Limavady United before further spells with Ballymena United, Lisburn Distillery, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock. Wright won the League Cup with Lisburn Distillery in 2011 before guiding St Johnstone to Scottish Cup glory three years later.

placeholder image — Tommy Wright celebrates with goal heroes David Cushley (left) and Scott Davidson after winning the League Cup with Lisburn Distillery in 2011. (Photo by William Cherry/Presseye)

Alongside his time working with ex-England international Keegan, Wright was also managed by the likes of Sir Bobby Robson, Billy Bingham and Roy Coyle. Combined with his own philosophy, learning from some of the best – both at home and across the water – helped shape Wright’s dugout journey.

"All of the managers I would have taken something from, you'd be foolish not to,” Wright told the News Letter. “He (Keegan) was approachable as a manager which is important, he was knowledgeable about the game, but it was more the atmosphere and trust he grew. The players had trust in him and he emphasised that he trusted us as well. That's really important in management.

"His teams always played on the front foot - he would rather have won 4-3 than 1-0! He had a lot of good qualities that made him a top manager and player. I remember after a game at Bristol Rovers where I had done particularly well, he said I was the best sweeper keeper...he was always praising his players in public and making you feel good.

"He joined in on training and would do the finishing drills, he was probably still the best there! He will be sadly missed and that's now Jim Smith, Willie McFaul and Kevin who I worked with at Newcastle that have passed away.

"It's really, really sad and he's a big loss to football. He was a winner, but if you look at his England career, he knew it wasn't for him and he called time on that, there was a level of honesty to him as well which you don't often see.

"He had a great personality, he was bubbly, really infectious with his enthusiasm. He made you feel like you really wanted to go and play for him. We never really had much structure to how we played, we were told to go and play and that freedom helped us.”

Ex-Northern Ireland ace Keith Gillespie, who Keegan signed from Manchester United in 1995, remembered his former boss as “an incredible man and such an inspiration to myself and so many others”.

Throughout his playing career, Keegan played six times against Northern Ireland – he scored once and provided two assists during England’s 4-0 European Championship qualifying win in 1979 and netted as captain in another 4-0 win in February 1982.