Newcastle deny David O'Leary reports as takeover talks reach critical stage
• Newcastle rebut suggestions O'Leary has been offered job
• Alan Shearer will be in charge if Barry Moat buys the club
Newcastle United have denied reports that David O'Leary will be installed as manager should takeover talks with the Tyneside businessman Barry Moat collapse this week. O'Leary has been heavily linked with the vacant position at St James' Park in recent days and, although the club's owner, Mike Ashley, will not appoint a manager at this stage, he will do so this week if the Moat deal falls through.
Sources have indicated that Ashley has already considered potential candidates but deny he has made a decision to offer it to O'Leary, who has not managed since leaving Aston Villa in 2006.
Joe Kinnear, who was forced out of Newcastle because of health problems earlier this year, Alan Curbishley and Gordon Strachan are being looked at as alternatives and all are currently out of work.
Should Ashley appoint his fourth manager in two troubled years it would mean the sports retailer, who is due to return from a holiday in Hawaii tomorrow, has taken the ailing Championship club off the market for the second time in seven months because of his failure to find a buyer. There is a growing sense of urgency surrounding the takeover which has led to Ashley deciding that a decision needs to be made this week.
Newcastle managed a 1-1 draw with West Brom yesterday but the first-team squad is desperately short on numbers and Ashley and the managing director, Derek Llambias, know players will need to be signed by the new manager before the transfer window closes in just two weeks' time.
That has increased the pressure on Ashley to accept Moat's offer, which has been recommended to him by Seymour Pierce, the bank in charge of the sale, as its preferred bid.
As a result Ashley is willing to re-open negotiations in an attempt to break the deadlock. Talks will resume tomorrow in the hope of reaching a resolution, although Moat has still not put together a package that meets Ashley's £100m asking price.
Alan Shearer will definitely become manager if Moat is successful and the former Newcastle captain is set to press both parties for answers, having watched the game against West Bromwich as a frustrated pundit for the BBC.
Sheare still wants to take on the job despite being stuck in limbo since the end of May and admitting the "seven or eight players" he had wanted to sign "have all gone to other clubs". He has privately indicated the next 48 hours will either make or break his bid to become permanent manager after an eight-game stint at the end of last season.
Given the lack of relationship between them, Shearer – who has not had any contact with Ashley or Llambias for more than two weeks – would be reluctant to work for the Ashley regime if the club were taken off the market.
Text: Simon Williams, The Guardian
