Magpies statement slammed by KK

Kevin Keegan has quickly rubbished Newcastle's claims that he was always aware that he would not decide who the club bought and sold.

Keegan quit the Magpies last week stating that he could no longer work in a situation where he was having players bought and allowed to leave behind his back. However the club hit back on Saturday evening to claim he knew from his arrival in January that would be the case.

Keegan and League Managers' Association chief Richard Bevan have both now come out to insist that the circumstances in which he took the job had changed.

"At the time at which I joined Newcastle United Football Club it was made very clear to me that I would have the final say on player movement in and out of the club," Keegan said on the LMA website.

Bevan added: "Kevin Keegan's chief complaint, amongst others, is that it was always agreed that the director of football could not impose a player that the manager did not want.

"This agreement has been broken and, notwithstanding the fact that the chairman at the time of Kevin Keegan's appointment, the director of football and the owner of Newcastle United, have confirmed previously in public meetings and publications, that he would always have the final say."

The LMA site also backed the claims of Keegan and Bevan by including quotes made by Dennis Wise when he was appointed Director of Football.

Wise said: "He will say yes or no. He has the final word. No-one else. I am not going to do things like bring players in behind his back. I am not into that. Everything that happens will be run past him and he will say yes or no."