Shearer holds out for Newcastle

[Christmas Tree 4858]

Mail on Sunday

 

 

Alan Shearer is holding out for the Newcastle job - but the long-running takeover saga is set to drag on for at least another week.

 

Sources close to Shearer have dismissed claims that he had pulled out of the running to become manager at the crisis club because he had grown impatient about lack of progress.

 

An overseas financial services group are now front-runners to buy the club from owner Mike Ashley but they are looking at the deal in painstaking detail before deciding whether to proceed.

 

A verdict had been expected this weekend or early this week, but it is thought the process will drag on for at least a few more days and perhaps as long as another two weeks.

 

If the lead bidder pulls out, there are two other consortia working with Keith Harris, of investment bank Seymour Pierce, but it would take additional time to conclude a deal for the club, who began their pre-season schedule yesterday with a 3-0 win at Shamrock Rovers under caretaker boss Chris Hughton.

 

Despite ongoing uncertainty about when a deal will be done and whether the new owners will ask Shearer to be manager, a source close to the former Newcastle and England skipper said: 'It's rubbish to suggest he is giving up. He is in it for the long haul.'

 

Shearer is frustrated by the delay and, as he sees it, by being kept in the dark about developments. But Ashley and Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias may themselves not be aware of the identity of all those involved in negotiations because Seymour Pierce are keen to conduct the process as discreetly as possible.

 

Although the group, who includes former chairman Freddy Shepherd, would want Shearer as manager, the intentions of the other two bidders remain unknown. Neither is thought to be the sort of investor who would throw huge sums of money at the club.

 

A club source said: 'There is barely a month before the start of the new season and the club are in freefall. Even if it all got sorted out now, it could take months to get everything back on track.'

 

Newcastle made the first efforts to prepare for their new challenge yesterday, with Joey Barton playing for them two months after Shearer said he should never appear for the club again.

 

Barton, out in the cold since his red-card shame against Liverpool in May, played the first half of Newcastle's 3-0 win at Irish part-timers Shamrock Rovers.

 

Steven Taylor, Shola Ameobi and Nile Ranger scored the goals but it was Barton's presence on the teamsheet that will have upset many Newcastle fans who have not forgiven Barton for recklessly getting himself sent off in the 3-0 defeat at Anfield.

 

Caretaker boss Chris Hughton said: 'I always planned to use all the players who were here.'

 

Shearer made no secret of the fact that he wanted to offload the midfielder, but interest from Birmingham City has cooled and the former Manchester City hard man insists he wants to stay on Tyneside, though that will surely change should Shearer return.

Edited July 12, 2009 by Christmas Tree

[Kitman 2207]

I thought he was supposed to be furious and heading back to the Beeb?