Shearer keen for Newcastle return

Alan Shearer admitted on Saturday that he is still keen to return as Newcastle manager despite being kept in the dark over the club’s future.

Shearer spent the final eight games as Newcastle’s interim manager after Joe Kinnear was forced to step down due to ill health.

The former Newcastle and England striker was unable to keep the Magpies in the Premier League but he was hoping to stay in charge on a permanent basis this season.

He would be a popular choice with the fans but Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is hoping to sell the crisis-torn club and has opted not to appoint a new boss in case a prospective buyer wanted to bring in his own man.

That left Shearer to watch the club’s opening game of the Championship season at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday in his other role as a pundit for BBC Television.

“I’m still in limbo,” Shearer told the BBC. “I wanted it sorted either way because of my love for the football club. I’d dearly love the chance to finish what I started last season.”

“As far as I’m aware the club’s up for sale, they haven’t got a buyer.

“My last conversation with Mike Ashley was on the Tuesday after we’d been relegated.

“I told him the players I wanted to keep, the players I thought had to be moved on, and the players I wanted to bring in.

“He said he wasn’t going to put any more money into the club and that is it as far as I’m aware.”

Tyneside businessman Barry Moat is a candidate to buy Newcastle and Shearer added: “He’s a friend of mine but I’ve been away on holiday and just got back in last night.

“I could be the manager if someone comes in, buys the club and wants me as manager.

“If they want to get the club back up to the Premier League I’d dearly love the chance to finish what I started last season, which was very disappointing.”