12 Facts About Michael Keeping

Alexander Edwin Michael Keeping was an English footballer and manager.

Michael Keeping coached Real Madrid CF from January 1948 to October 1950.

Michael Keeping's father was the Olympic medal winning cyclist Frederick Keeping.

Still only 16, Michael Keeping was registered as an amateur but paid 10 shillings a week for travelling expenses.

Michael Keeping 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.

Michael Keeping 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".

Michael Keeping played for the "Professionals" in the 1929 FA Charity Shield.

In Holley and Chalk's "Alphabet of the Saints", Michael Keeping is described as "a debonair man, contemporaries recall him as being equally stylish off the pitch and, much to the amusement of his team-mates, he would take hours over his appearance".

Michael Keeping joined Fulham in February 1933 and served them well until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

Michael Keeping continued to turn out occasionally for Fulham until 1941 when he returned to Milford to join the family motor business.

Michael Keeping was sacked in October 1950, after the eighth matchday for unsuitable remarks.

Michael Keeping is reported to have held positions in Denmark, France and North Africa.