Kevin Keegan says he would return as Newcastle manager for a third time... but only if Mike Ashley left the club first



Kevin Keegan says he would return to Newcastle United as manager – but only if Mike Ashley no longer owned the club.

The former Magpies boss walked away from his second spell in charge in 2008 following Ashley’s decision to install Dennis Wise as director of football and sign players without his approval.



Supporters were upset that Keegan – who masterminded their promotion to the Premier League in 1993 – had been forced to quit, but subsequent protests fell on deaf ears and United were eventually relegated.



Second coming: Mike Ashley brought Kevin Keegan back to Newcastle in 2008, but was forced out soon after

Keegan has since been critical of Ashley and his running of the club and he remains a legend on Tyneside.



The 63-year-old returned to the North East on Wednesday night when he gave a presentation of his career to fans at Hedworth Hall in South Shields.



And there he admitted that he would love to return for a third stint in charge of United, but only under a different regime.



That earned Keegan a standing ovation from a crowd who listened to his memories of saving the club with the aid of former owner Sir John Hall in 1992.



He also questioned the motives of Ashley, something which he previously did last summer in an interview for Sky Sports with cricketer and Newcastle fan Steve Harmison.



Unpopular: Mike Ashley and his former Director of Football Joe Kinnear are hated figures at St James' Park

Unwanted: Disgruntlement from the Toon Army aimed at Ashley and his cohorts from Keegan's last tenure

Messiah: Newcastle fans were desperate not to see Keegan leave their club for a second time

Recalling his second spell as manager, Keegan said: ‘I got a phone call from Terry Mac, I was up in Glasgow and he said “They’d like to talk to you”.



‘I went down to talk to them. I quite liked Mike Ashley. I thought “Yeah, this could be good”.



‘But no it was a nightmare, an absolute living nightmare.



‘In the end it isn’t easy to win a court case or take a club to court.



‘But I didn’t see it as being Newcastle, I saw it as Mike Ashley, Dennis Wise, a guy called Jimenez and Derek Llambias.



‘The Newcastle club now has no interest on that side, the fans, the team and we talk about it a lot through all my friends and the ex-players I know.



‘Until they leave that football club, it has no interest for me.



‘They are not that football club. They are just custodians who are in for a few years.



‘It might be five, 10 or six, but Newcastle United will go on after Mike Ashley.’



Legend: Keegan was a managerial hero of the Geordie faithful