King Kev - The Latest

So as it stands...Kevin Keegan is the manager of Newcastle United. However his position is about as untenable as it can be and it is surely only a matter of time before he walks out of Newcastle, out of Newcastle United for good.

Yesterday was a quite surreal day. With no Sky Sports News in my office it was a day listening to two radio stations simultaneously (BBC Radio Five Live and TalkSPORT) not an easy task I assure you. They say that men can't multi-task so going for two radio stations sounds like a real toughie but I seem to manage it ok – anyway I digress.

The day was even more bizarre and full of more twists and turns than transfer deadline day, which in itself looked to of had the most surprising day of the season sewn up pretty early. The early rumblings started turning into full blown rumour at around 11AM as it looked like Keegan and the club had parted company.

Then as lunchtime dragged on the news evolved to Keegan had been sacked and the natives were not happy bunnies. 'Sack the board' came the cry from the hundreds of fans congregated outside St. James Park as they lamented the seeming departure of the man they worship. The afternoon dragged on and Newcastle were saying nothing.

Then at around 7PM the club made a statement that said he had not been sacked:

Newcastle United can confirm that meetings between members of the Board and manager Kevin Keegan were held both yesterday and today.

Kevin has raised a number of issues and those have been discussed with him.

The Club wants to keep progressing with its long-term strategy and would like to stress that Kevin is extremely important, both now and in the future.

Newcastle United values the effort and commitment shown by Kevin since his return to St. James' Park and wants him to continue to play an instrumental role as manager of the Club.

For the avoidance of doubt the Club has not sacked Kevin Keegan as manager.

I'm not sure how you read that but it sounds like rubbish to me. They only want Keegan to be a puppet figurehead and Keegan has decided enough is enough. Now it is all posturing about the compensation, if they really wanted Keegan then they would get rid of Dennis Wise and let him get on with the job. The fans back Keegan, they don't back Ashley or Wise so to anger Keegan is to anger the fans, who are the paying public.

Mike Ashley didn't make a lot of money by being stupid so he needs to live n die by Keegan and just back him. He doesn't and therefore the relationship is untenable and the Geordie Nation is not going to be happy, not by a long shot.