Newcastle hit back at Keegan criticism

Newcastle United hit back at Kevin Keegan's criticism of the club following his shock resignation as manager last week.

Keegan, who quit on Thursday less than eight months after returning for a second stint as manager, said he had left because he did not have control over the Premier League club's transfer policy.

Fans have called for owner Mike Ashley and director of football Dennis Wise to resign but in a hard-hitting statement Newcastle said they had been given a misleading impression.

"It is a fact that Kevin Keegan, on appointment on January 16, 2008, agreed to report to a director of football and the board," the statement said.

"It is a fact that Kevin Keegan worked within that structure from January 16 until his resignation.

"It is a fact that Kevin Keegan, as manager, had specific duties in that he was responsible for the training, coaching, selection and motivation of the team."

The statement also listed several other "facts" that it said were known to Keegan when he returned to the club in a blaze of publicity and said Keegan had agreed at the time not to deal with the media in relation to transfer dealings.

As the apparent bitterness between Keegan and the club's hierarchy intensified, Keegan issued a response to Newcastle's claims through the League Managers Association (LMA) who have offered him their support through the saga.

LMA chief executive Richard Bevan said: "Kevin Keegan's chief complaint is that it was always agreed that the director of football could not impose a player that the manager did not want.

"This agreement has been broken and, notwithstanding the fact that the chairman at the time of Kevin Keegan's appointment, the director of football and the owner of Newcastle United, have confirmed previously in public meetings and publications that he would always have the final say."

The LMA played a central role in last week's drama after being called in, along with lawyers, by Keegan as he sought to clarify his position.

They have backed the 57-year-old over his claims he was not allowed to do his job in the way he expected, with Wise operating in an executive director of football role, which appeared to give Keegan little or no say over the club's recruitment policy.

Former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer yesterday insisted there was no way he could take on the job with the current structure in place.

"I would like to be a manager at some stage in my career, but that means controlling the players that go in and the players that go out," Shearer said.

"I don't think I would be comfortable working within a structure with a director of football who was picking and choosing the players for me."