Newcastle denies Keegan sacked

Newcastle has insisted it has not sacked manager Kevin Keegan after a day of intense speculation over his future.

Varying reports claimed both that the 57-year-old had been dismissed, and that he had resigned in the wake of meetings held following Monday night's closure of the transfer window.

But the club released a statement which read: "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."

While the club's insistence that the manager has not been sacked may do little to clarify the ongoing certainty, the fact that a dialogue is continuing will at least give fans who gathered at St James' Park throughout the day hope that there could be a resolution.

Keegan is understood to have made his feelings plain over the club's summer transfer policy at a meeting on Monday, and was again summoned by the hierarchy Tuesday morning as rumours of his exit started to surface.

The former England boss has been unhappy with the club's relative lack of transfer activity in recent weeks, but voiced his belief on Friday after James Milner's departure for Aston Villa that he would have three or four more players at his disposal by midnight Monday night.

In the event, only striker Xisco and loan signing Ignacio Gonzalez arrived on Tyneside, while troubled midfielder Joey Barton was the subject of an unsuccessful approach from another top-flight club.