Forget Keegan and Shearer, could this man be the Messiah?

The laughter that greeted Newcastle’s decision to appoint Joe Kinnear as interim manager has died down somewhat after the Irishman ended a run of five straight defeats and delivered draws in two fixtures that the club lost last season.

If Habib Beye’s unjust 14th minute sending-off against Manchester City had happened a month ago you would have expected Newcastle to wind up losing by five or six, but last night they possessed a newfound resilience and were unlucky not to win.

Kinnear has admitted he would love to take the job full-time, but is he capable of turning Newcastle’s fortunes around on a full-time basis or would it be similar to when they appointed Glenn Roeder after a great spell as caretaker, only for him to leave within a year?

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Wow, did anybody see this one coming?

Just when you thought things couldn’t get even more bizarre at St. James’ Park, Newcastle have announced former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear as their new interim manager.

Having left his previous Premier League post at Selhurst Park in 1999 after a heart attack, Kinnear is surely ill-advised to make his return at a club in freefall, where the fans feel a hatred towards the chairman, and Dennis Wise is hugely influential.

The Irishman resigned from his last job as manager of Championship side Nottingham Forest in 2004 with the club stuck in the relegation zone. Kinnear is under no illusions that he won’t be at the club for long and said: