Keegan Takes Over @...............

[Nic83]

I'd love to give Ian Payne a right boot up the arse

[Shaggy]

The circus is about to open.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

FFS.

Ian Payne is presenting SSN from St James Park, in readiness for Keegan's press conference.

What is it with Sky Sports News and Newcastle ****ing United?

They seem to treat Newcastle as their kid i think, always excited when they get a new manager etc.......its very sad a pathetic IMO

Newcastle are just a laughing stock of English football

[Nic83]

WTF? They're going on as if noone works hard outside of newcastle! "The fans work hard all week and just want to be entertained at teh weekends!" WTF, what gives them the right to fantasy footy more than the rest of us! FFS

[Marky]

They are a joke of a club. It's funny to watch the drama unfold though.

[Neil Young]

I suppose at least the owner has done what the fans want. We'd love that to happen at LFC right now.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Keegan makes Owen is the Captain

What a kick in the teeth for Given and Taylor

[dww]

Keegan makes Owen is the Captain

What a kick in the teeth for Given and Taylor

To be honest Taylor is probably too young and given their record in defense none of the defenders in guaranteed their place in the team and I think he still hasn't signed a new contract. Given has always been a second rate defensive organiser and I would rarely give the keeper the captains armband anyway (plus he has been out of the side due to both form and injury this season).

Obviously Owen is also an odd choice but there is no clear choice for me in the Newcastle side (one of it's long standing problems). I might give it to Butt although I have no idea how vocal he is or what his personality is like. He is however about the only player in their squad who has consistently deserved a starting place this season and he has a lot of experience.

[Shaggy]

Oh the irony.

All week we've heard everyone babbling on with **** like "Keegan's teams think 'you score 6, we'll score 7!'..."

When people used to say that, it was "you score 3, we'll score 4" - yet this week it's inexplicably gone up to 7-6.

Anyway, Keegan's first game ends in a dire goalless draw.

[Marky]

They're ****e.

[desertscouser]

that was so awful.

[Bob]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Bob]

Fans reaction: Ach, he just needs a bit more time..... few games like!!!

Are these folk for real?

[Shaggy]

Doubts cast over Shearer's Newcastle return

Kevin Keegan, whose first match back in charge at Newcastle produced an anti-climactic 0-0 draw ye sterday, has lifted the lid on his rift with Alan Shearer and admitted he fears he has caused a major problem between the pair by not appearing for Shearer's testimonial in 2006 - one that may stop them working together.

Shearer was deeply hurt by the non-appearance of the man who persuaded him to snub Manchester United to move to Newcastle 10 years earlier. That Keegan was also the only significant figure from his career not to pen an article for the tribute programme similarly drove a wedge between the duo.

Keegan has spoken for the first time about a friendship that has been severely damaged because of the snub, and revealed he plans to offer an olive branch to repair their relationship. However, perhaps significantly, he has distanced himself from suggestions that Shearer could be handed the No 2 role as part of his new management team at St James' Park.

Keegan, who took over on Wednesday, has still to determine his entire staff, although his former manager, Arthur Cox, was added to the club's payroll on Friday. Yet it seems now that the best Shearer will be offered is a part-time coaching role under the new regime. The fact that Shearer is due to set off on a business trip to Africa today further complicates matters. He has also been told by Newcastle chairman Chris Mort that he will need to take over at another club before he is even considered for the manager's role in the future.

"I'd like to think there is no animosity there, but if you are asking me if Alan rings me as much as he used to do then no, he doesn't," revealed Keegan.

"I couldn't come to Alan's testimonial (against Celtic) because I was on a family holiday in the States. Things like that, sadly, may have affected him, but it hasn't affected me and I want to talk with him and I will. It's possibly true that it did offend him in some way, but for me to fly all the way from America…I wouldn't have expected him to do that for me. But maybe I'm thinking like I think and maybe it did offend him. I did hear that he had a little cry about it and who am I to criticise him for that.

"If it did, I would have thought that we are great friends. For all his playing career, and from the minute I met him and signed him in David Platt's farmhouse in Cheshire, we had a fantastic relationship and a very honest one. Yes we are two people who say what we think, but that's good. I will talk to Alan first, but if that is the reason he doesn't ring me any more then that disappoints me, but I'll ring him and ask him. He's not rung me, but then I've been out of the game a while and he's on the telly all the time.

"If Alan doesn't see himself as a No 2 then he's not going to come here, is he? What am I going to fetch him as, joint manager? If he says to me, I don't want to be No 2, and that is his line, then there really isn't any point having a long conversation. I think there is an involvement for Alan Shearer at this football club and that involvement at this moment could be on his terms. At the end of the day three things could happen here; he could become an employee of Newcastle United again or he could not.

"I know he has other obligations and commitments to the BBC. It is a promise and a commitment, so it might be that we can chat about it. What a fantastic player to have around the club and help people in the art of goalscoring and finishing and just talking to players.

"But if he can't be there on a Saturday because he has to do TV work, then you can't even think of him as a No 2. I will probably say to him, 'I'm here now, do you see any role for yourself?'

Mort's opinion has further complicated a delicate issue between two strong-willed figures. He insists Shearer must get experience to become the next Newcastle manager, though Keegan believes he is his perfect successor.


"Alan ticks a lot of boxes but he's not yet done it as a manager," said Mort. "I would be more comfortable about Alan managing this club if he has more managerial experience under his belt. I'd say this to Alan, and I have said it to him."

Keegan revealed he would not have returned to St James' Park if the Halls and Shepherds had still been in control. Both families were bought out in Mike Ashley's takeover and when he was asked if he would be manager if they were still running the club, he said: "No. That doesn't mean to say I don't respect them. If you talk about the way it finished, then it was disappointing. Sir John Hall couldn't even be bothered to come back and say goodbye to me."

Keegan, despite his row with the player he paid a world record £15?million for, does believe Shearer will inherit his position.

He added: "I had a conversation with Alan when he was in his last year at the club - I think we were playing golf somewhere - and we were talking about management and the manager's job at Newcastle came up, as it always does. And I said to him 'It will come for you one day, you don't have to go looking for it'."

[dww]

You have to think he needs to bring in someone with more up to date thinking than Arthur Cox - at least in terms of fitness etc. I can't help feeling that a number of previously successful PL managers have been left behind my the innovations bought in from the continent.

Perhaps the Keegan/Cox partnerships emphasis on flair over fitness is a good move in terms of the fact that you need an edge or a distinct personality to a side to do well in the PL but I do think they will need to try and move with the times. Keegan having had a few years out of the game (in which he claims not to even have watched a game) can't bode well for that.