Board's interference prompts Keegan to quit

NEWCASTLE United were last night facing a fans revolt as an 11th-hour rescue plan failed to prevent the resignation of manager Kevin Keegan.

The 57-year-old unilaterally announced his departure as manager after three days of talks with the club's hierarchy.

He released a statement through the League Managers' Association confirming his decision, which seemingly took the club by surprise.

The LMA revealed Keegan's move came after he received a letter from managing director Derek Llambias yesterday which he felt left him with little alternative.

Keegan said: "I have been working desperately hard to find a way forward with the directors, but sadly that has not proved possible. It's my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want.

"It remains my fervent wish to see Newcastle United do well in the future and I feel incredibly sorry for the players, staff and most importantly the supporters. I have been left with no choice other than to leave."

The move disappointed the club, who had spent the last 48 hours or so trying to find a workable solution to a problem which had left angry supporters calling for the heads of owner billionaire Mike Ashley and executive director (football) Dennis Wise.

A statement read: "Newcastle United Football Club is sad and disappointed that Kevin Keegan has resigned. Over the last few days, the club has devoted itself to the discussions it has held with Kevin and as a result of those discussions, had put together a set of practical suggestions for how to move forward.

"Today, the club made it clear to Kevin that if he had any outstanding concerns on its proposals, he should raise them with the club. The club regrets that Kevin has, instead of taking up that offer, chosen to resign."

Last night's developments leave Newcastle looking for their sixth manager in four years, and facing the fury of fans who believe the man they consider a hero has been badly let down by Ashley.

Keegan was unhappy with the way the club conducted its transfer business over the final few days of the summer window, when it was claimed they tried to sell players behind his back while also failing to meet his expectations on signings.

Only Xisco and Ignacio Gonzalez arrived on Tyneside as the clock ticked down, and neither are understood to have been on the manager's wish-list. He made his feelings abundantly clear at meetings with the board on both Monday and Tuesday as rumours spread that he had been sacked or had walked out.

But after a deafening silence from St James' Park on Monday, the club issued two statements either side of another from the man himself revealing that concerns had been raised and were being discussed.

Keegan, Newcastle insisted, had neither resigned nor been sacked, and the ongoing dialogue was aimed at resolving the differences. However, even as the talks went on, the word coming out of the Keegan camp was that it was only a matter of time before his second spell as manager came to an end.

All the talk was that he would not resign because of the £1 million it would cost him to get out of the three-and-a-half year contract he signed just eight months ago. But Llambias' letter appears to have made up his mind, ironically just a day after West Ham counterpart Alan Curbishley left his post citing similar reasons.

There were angry protests on Gallowgate at the prospect of the adopted Geordie leaving he club for a third time after his spell as a player and then as manager between 1992 and 1997, and that fury will only intensify now that his departure has been confirmed.

Ashley and Wise, the man he appointed to head up the club's recruitment arm, bore the brunt of the supporters' jeers, and it is difficult to see how they can be appeased. The club can expect concerted protests, especially when the team return to Barclays Premier League action against Hull City on 13 September.

In the meantime, Ashley will once again begin the process of finding the man to lead the club forward in a job which seems to resemble a poisoned chalice ever more by the year. Wise was swiftly installed as one of the bookmakers' favourites.

With Newcastle seemingly having been left behind by the Premier League's other new owners, Ashley's long-term task will be to persuade fans who expected major investment when the billionaire bought out Freddy Shepherd just last year that his vision for the club is the right one.

Different agendas drive 'Geordie Messiah' away

DAMIAN SPELLMAN

KEVIN Keegan once walked away from St James' Park after claiming the job was not as it had been presented in the brochure.

On that occasion, he was placated and returned to build a team which very nearly toppled the all-conquering Manchester United side of the time from its perch. But after discovering second time around that the task he thought he had taken on was a very different one, the outcome was inevitable.

Keegan rode back into 'Toon' on his white charger in January, cast in the role of Magpies saviour for the third time in his illustrious career. He had previously spearheaded the club's drive for promotion back to the top flight as a player and then dragged them into the upper reaches of the new Premier League with a brand of football which won them admirers all over the world.

But it was a very different St James' Park to which he returned when the Tyneside hierarchy came calling earlier this year.

Keegan's candidacy – he was swiftly installed as the fans' favourite after the sacking of Sam Allardyce – had been dismissed as wishful thinking, but in a remarkable night on 16 January, the club confirmed the news which was to set the city alight. The small matter of an FA Cup third round replay against Stoke the same night was effectively a side-show as, several minutes after kick-off, the 'Geordie Messiah' arrived and was ushered into his seat to delirious applause.

When he was eventually unveiled after signing a three-and-a-half-year contract, he assured the club's fans he had been convinced of owner Mike Ashley's ambition for the club and forecast a serious tilt at a major trophy, something which has eluded the club since 1969.

However, Keegan found himself plunged into a fight for Premier League survival when, after Bolton spoiled the party with a 0-0 draw on Tyneside in his first game in charge, he was forced to wait nine games for his opening victory. But a seven-game unbeaten run eventually eased the Magpies away from trouble and into mid-table. However, it was then that the storm clouds started to gather.

The appointment of Dennis Wise as executive director (football) and his team was seen by many as undermining the manager, and the tension between the two arms of the club's operations was rarely far from the surface.

But it was Keegan's frank assessment of the club's situation after a comprehensive home defeat by Chelsea in May – he insisted they were "a million miles away" from breaking into the top four – which enraged Ashley, who immediately summoned him to talks in London. Peace broke out in the wake of those discussions, but it proved an uneasy truce.

Keegan spoke with passion and enthusiasm about his summer recruitment drive. However, the money men were pursuing a very different policy. A drastic reduction in transfer fees and the wages they were prepared to offer severely limited their chances of landing the type of player Keegan craved, while

James Milner's £12million departure to Aston Villa served to weaken the manager's position further.

By midnight on Monday, only Spanish striker Xisco and loan signing Ignacio Gonzalez had arrived to join Fabricio Coloccini, Jonas Gutierrez and Danny Guthrie, leaving Keegan with a squad he considered to be seriously under-strength.

His response was entirely predictable and few fans will blame him for it as they prepare for another turbulent period in the club's chequered history.

WHAT NEXT?

Odds on next Newcastle United manager according to Ladbrokes

Gustavo Poyet 6/4
Dennis Wise 4/1
Didier Deschamps 9/2
Alan Shearer 5/1
David Moyes 6/1
Harry Redknapp 12/1
Steve Bruce 12/1
Alan Curbishley 16/1
Gerard Houllier 16/1
Slaven Bilic 20/1
Frank Rijkaard 20/1
Roberto Mancini 20/1
David O Leary 25/1
Gordon Strachan 33/1
Guus Hiddink 33/1