Keegan trudges away after Germany defeat (RossKinnaird/Allsport)

Now, as the recently departed England coach considers the timing of his return to these shores from a recuperative holiday in the aftermath of his sudden resignation, he must wonder if the simple theme of that song might now become a chilling reality.

Will England still embrace him as one of their best loved sons? Will they still smile his smiles, sigh his sighs. More significantly, will his beloved country ever again cry his cries?

Especially since the Wembley defeat to World Cup rivals Germany was then followed rapidly by the loss of two more vital World Cup qualifying points in Finland by an England squad utterly dispirited and disorganised by the turmoil of Keegan's brutally abrupt departure at a time of crisis.

Certainly, in the quiet hours he will have spent this week reflecting on the devastation he left behind, it will have been almost impossible for Keegan to gaze into the tranquillity of Florida's coral blue horizon and not think of Don Revie.

Revie, the man who really established Keegan's international playing career, was, of course, the last manager to desert England at a time of need back in 1977 when he dashed secretly to sign a contract with the United Arab Emirates.

A far more worldly man than Keegan has turned out to be, Revie was instinctively aware of the wounding effect it would have on the public when he left England's tour of South America on a supposed trip back to Europe for a spying mission.

So much so that he felt the need to don dark glasses, a cap and a false beard as he detoured through Heathrow for the Emirates and a life of shame in English eyes.

It was a mistake of life-changing enormity which brought a savagely unforgiving reaction from both the football establishment and the English public.

Although Revie spent some years in exile working for the oil-rich Emirates, the hostility back home remained at such an unrelenting level that he never felt able to return to live in his home country, even when the lucrative desert contract ended.

	Flashback 1969: Don Revie was building an empire at Leeds (HultonDeutsch/Allsport)

He simply felt he could no longer walk the streets of England without still being reviled as a traitor. Rather than face such a prospect, he went instead to live a lonely life in Scotland and was eventually reduced to a mere shell of the robust leader who had dominated the domestic game in his days as boss of Leeds' most successful side.

These, then, are the memories which will have had the most vivid resonance for Keegan as he contemplates how and where he will begin to face up to the rest of his life. As a man prone to the notion of preordained destinies, he will be acutely aware of how both his and Revie's stars have already crossed down the years.

Revie was the England manager in the mid-Seventies when Keegan stormed out of the squad and made for home when told he may not be in the starting line-up. When he returned, Revie upset the rest of the squad by relenting and allowing Keegan to play against Scotland.

Earlier, when Keegan became the first England international to be sent off at Wembley, the link with Revie was there again. For it followed a clash with Billy Bremner - the captain of Revie's Leeds.

In 1977, when Revie was to demonstrate that he, too, was afflicted by a brittle temperament by bolting from the consequences of England's fading World Cup prospects, his excuse for leaving the squad's tour of South America was to spy on their next qualifying opponents - Finland.

Keegan, of course, coincidentally abandoned his own England team to their World Cup fate as they prepared to play ... Finland.

Now, while he may not be pondering beard and glasses when he packs his bags for home, it will be difficult for Keegan not to wonder if the final, fateful link between the two men is about to be enacted.

There will be the dreadful thought that, having declared the end to his own football career, the climax to the Keegan story will now mirror the horror ending of Revie's.

Like Keegan, Revie was a passionate patriot. When he took over as England manager after Sir Alf Ramsey, he not only instituted the playing of Land of Hope and Glory as the team walked out at Wembley but even insisted that the Press stood to sing it along with the fans.

He, as we saw Keegan do prior to the fateful Germany game last Saturday, would sing the National Anthem at the top of his voice.

Yet, unable to cope with the demands of international management and fearing the indignity of the sack, Revie traded the thing he treasured most - the respect of his country. Revie's self-imposed exile on his return to Britain was, according to those close to him, difficult to bear. To him and his family, it seemed he was serving a life sentence which far outweighed the 'crime'.

He filled his days in his grey-stone bungalow in the Edinburgh suburbs playing the occasional round of golf, often with his staunchly loyal son Duncan. Eventually, he succumbed to motor neurone disease and died a cruel and unfairly early death.

Of course Revie, unlike Keegan, was never a man who courted or was ever fortunate enough to enjoy quite the level of popularity that Keegan has always had. Recognition of his merits as a player and coach was reward enough for him.

For Keegan, however, popularity has been everything. He has thrived on a unique rapport with a British public which adored his infectious air of optimism.

Until now. Keegan sensed that change as he walked from the scene of defeat at Wembley against Germany. Suddenly, in the space of 90 minutes, he had seen his place in society lurch from prince to pariah.

Consequently, at the very moment news filtered through that his response to his first taste of fan hostility was to quit, his status was redefined from 20 years of being 'Our Kev' to 'That Keegan' - the bloke who did a Revie.