Keegan’s leaving door open for Shearer

Feb 9 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

KEVIN Keegan has revealed he has left the door open for Alan Shearer should the former Newcastle captain decide he wants to become part of his management team.

Shearer decided last week that he did not want to take on a full-time coaching role at St James’s Park, mainly because of his television commitments with the BBC.

At this stage, Shearer is only going to do a bit of part-time coaching, but Keegan feels that might change in the future when his contract with the BBC is up for renewal.

He said “I believe Alan has come and said that at the moment it is difficult for him to come into the club. He can’t come in as No 2 because of his commitments and Alan is very much the same as myself in that if you can’t do something properly then it’s best to not do it at all.

“What we have agreed is that he is going to come in training with us to start off with and then we are going to revisit it later when the commitments that he’s made to other people are no longer in place.

“I think some of his TV work and other stuff pretty much run out this summer so we will re-visit it. So the door is left absolutely wide open.

“It’s up to Alan and myself to come up with the right solution, if that’s the right word, to his situation coming in here. I’ve left the door wide open because I respect him and know that he would bring something to the party.”

Meanwhile, Keegan is looking forward to leaving players out against Aston Villa today following the return of Habib Beye and Abdoulaye Faye from international duty with Senegal.

Although Obafemi Martins will miss the trip because of an ankle injury, as revealed in The Journal on Wednesday, Keegan has virtually a full squad to choose from for the first time since he returned to the club this weekend.

He said: “It’s good that the African players are coming back because, when you’ve got a small squad and you lose four players it is a lot to lose. Any club losing that amount of players would feel their squad was a bit short because they are all internationals, all playing top-level football.

“It’s great to have two of them back and I’ve been very impressed with their attitude.

“I know when you’ve got a new manager in it means a new beginning for a lot of players, so you do get an initial wave of enthusiasm, but certainly I’ve been impressed with the two of them (Faye and Beye) since they came back.”