Steve Watson has warned Newcastle's fans not to expect a repeat of Kevin Keegan's famous side of the nineties.

Former Toon utility man Watson played in Keegan's first and last game of his previous spell in charge at St James' Park and admits it was a "special" time to be at the club.

While Watson is excited by Keegan's return and is backing him to have an immediate impact on players and fans alike, he does not think the current crop will replicate the spirit of the side which almost won the Premier League title in 1996.

"We had some great players at that time and we were a solid unit as a group of lads. It was a special place to be, everybody got on great and every time there was a night out then 25 players would turn up with 25 wives."

"You don't get that too often and it's important that the fans don't expect exactly the same thing straight away. It's a completely different scenario now and things are much harder."

Watson also pointed out the vast difference in expectation and personnel that Keegan is faced with, as the first time he took the job in 1992 the squad was full of home-grown players and was languishing near the bottom of the old Second Division.

He continued: "The first time around it was a completely different situation because Newcastle were near the bottom of the second flight and he came in and had an immediate impact.

Legend

"The fans took to him straight away and there were a lot of young Geordie lads like myself in the team who saw him as a legend. You couldn't help but be impressed by the guy.

"Keegan is a motivator, but he likes to give his teams the license to play football and all of his philosophies are based around passing the ball and playing good, attacking football.

"We never thought about the defensive side of things too much at Newcastle because we always tended to score more than the opposition!"

"It's different this time because he has got a lot of big players, but he has players there that he has managed before - Joey Barton at Man City as well as Michael Owen, Alan Smith and Nicky Butt from his time with the England set-up."

Watson warned that the timing of the appointment is slightly awkward as Keegan only has a short space of time to sign players before the transfer window shuts.

And with several players away at the African Cup of Nations, he does not expect Keegan to bring many new faces to the club until the summer.

"It's a difficult time for him to come in because he's got three weeks to assess the guys that he's got there."

"There are also three or four guys away at the African Cup of Nations that he has probably never seen play. But if there are any players that he wants to bring in, I'm sure he'll try and do that. On the whole he'll probably try to keep the squad together and look at them for the rest of the season."

And overall Watson, who is currently at Sheffield Wednesday, feels exciting times are ahead for the Newcastle faithful.

"I had a little inkling that he would fancy the job this time. He's been out of football for a while and, while he was very proud to manage England, I think Newcastle was probably his happiest time as a manager."

"If the reaction of my family is anything to go by then the city is buzzing again. I think only Kevin Keegan could come back and get that sort of backing from the supporters. They will be very patient with him and he will be backed by the board and will get an immediate reaction and that's what Newcastle need."

"Newcastle are not in any immediate danger of getting dragged into a relegation battle, but they need to start winning games and Kevin can deliver that."

"And if he has the same impact as he did the first time around then the top six and the European places are not out of the question."

See the interview here: http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid958992159/bctid1380403461