Keegan refuses to play down Toon return rumours and admits: It is a club I've always loved

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• More Magpies news

Keegan is a popular figure among the Geordie fans and would lift spirits in the aftermath of Sam Allardyce's unsuccessful reign and Harry Redknapp's decision to remain at Portsmouth.

The former England boss, who took United closer than anyone to Premier League glory in his last stint at St James' Park, is behind Blackburn chief Mark Hughes in the betting but would be a serious contender if he intimated that he would make a return to top-flight football.

He fell some way short of doing that today, but also - perhaps pointedly - did not reject the possibility.

Asked if he would consider the job if offered, he told Sky Sports News: "I really don't know, you're asking a lot of questions I can't really answer.

"I'm not ruling myself out or in or anything. It's a club I love, that's what I am prepared to say, everyone knows that, and it's a club I've managed before."

Reports suggested Keegan and the man he signed for £15m in 1996 - Alan Shearer - are set to take over the club but Shearer has distanced himself from this.