Former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer on Friday appeared to rule himself out of the running to replace Kevin Keegan in the St James' Park hotseat.

The ex-England England star, now a TV pundit, described the structure at the ailing Premier League club as "strange", one day after Keegan quit as manager for the second time.

"I'd like to be a manager at some point in my career," Shearer told the BBC.

"But I want to manage - and control who comes in and out of the club."

Keegan quit the job over his lack of control on transfers, a similar complaint to the one made by Alan Curbishley who resigned as boss of fellow top flight side West Ham on Wednesday.

With Shearer a reluctant candidate, the favourites to replace Keegan remain Everton's David Moyes and former French skipper Didier Deschamps with Newcastle now looking for a sixth manager in four years.

Shearer, a legend among Newcastle fans who scored 192 goals in 363 appearances for the club, has been regularly linked with the manager's job on the occasions it has become vacant since he retired as a player in 2006.

Keegan's former Liverpool strike partner John Toshack said on Friday that the conflict leading to the Newcastle rupture was inevitable with his old friend feeling he had been left out in the cold over transfers.

"If you've got three, four, or five players waiting for you and you don’t know who they are, then you have got the right to ask yourself 'can I manage this football club?'" said Wales boss Toshack.

"You live and die by the decisions you make as a manager, and that includes buying players.

"It's a dangerous run when you go into a football club and the director of football is not appointed by yourself.

"There can only be one person who is (ultimately) responsible for buying players."

AFP

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