Shearer rules himself out of Newcastle job

LONDON: Former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer on Saturday appeared to rule himself out of the running to replace Kevin Keegan in the St James’ Park hot-seat.

The ex-England England star, now a TV pundit, described the structure at the ailing Premier League club as “strange”, one day after Keegan quit as manager for the second time.

“I’d like to be a manager at some point in my career,” Shearer told the BBC.

“But I want to manage – and control who comes in and out of the club.”

Keegan quit the job over his lack of control on transfers, a similar complaint to the one made by Alan Curbishley who resigned as boss of fellow top flight side West Ham on Wednesday.

With Shearer a reluctant candidate, the favourites to replace Keegan remain Everton’s David Moyes and former French skipper Didier Deschamps with Newcastle now looking for a sixth manager in four years.

Shearer, a legend among Newcastle fans who scored 192 goals in 363 appearances for the club, has been regularly linked with the manager’s job on the occasions it has become vacant since he retired as a player in 2006.

Keegan’s former Liverpool strike partner John Toshack said that the conflict leading to the Newcastle rupture was inevitable with his old friend feeling he had been left out in the cold over transfers.

“If you’ve got three, four, or five players waiting for you and you don’t know who they are, then you have got the right to ask yourself ‘can I manage this football club?’” said Wales boss Toshack.

“You live and die by the decisions you make as a manager, and that includes buying players.

“It’s a dangerous run when you go into a football club and the director of football is not appointed by yourself. “There can only be one person who is (ultimately) responsible for buying players.”

Keegan wanted to bring David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard to Newcastle.

The ex-Toon boss stunned owner Mike Ashley by asking to splash out on packages worth nearly £200 million on the three superstars.

A club insider revealed: “These were the players Keegan really wanted and he didn’t seem to care about how much they would cost.

“But the reaction of the board was ‘no chance — we’re not spending that sort of money on players like these’.

“As far as Mr Ashley was concerned, he didn’t want players that would cost so much. He wanted Keegan to find unknown youngsters who would become the next Beckham and Lampard of their generation.”

The turmoil at Toon could pave the way for a fresh takeover by the world’s sixth richest man.

Indian telecommunications tycoon Anil Ambani is ready to take advantage of the Keegan debacle by buying Ashley out.

The head of Reliance Communications had a £275m bid turned down last month.

But sources say he is considering an improved offer of £300m in the belief that with Ashley facing a fans’ revolt over Keegan’s resignation, he could be more willing to sell.

Ambani’s personal fortune is £21.5billion — almost twice as much as Roman Abramovich’s.

Overnight Newcastle would emerge as serious rivals to Manchester City when the transfer window re-opens in January.

Ambani promised to make £150m available for transfers when he made his initial bid for the Toon.

Some fans, grasping at straws, hope that a takeover might even open the door for an amazing return to the club for Keegan.