Red-faced Shepherd holds talks to make Big Sam his man

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After their lunchtime get-together at Claridge's Hotel, London, Shepherd plans further talks before Newcastle take on Watford in Sunday's final Premiership game of the season.

Scroll down to read more:

Shepherd: Loose talk

Allardyce pushed for the meeting after Newcastle held talks with their former captain Alan Shearer and representatives of Portugal coach Luis Felipe Scolari.

Shepherd also considered other options, such as Birmingham boss Steve Bruce and AZ Alkmaar's Louis van Gaal, but Allardyce is expected to be installed as Glenn Roeder's replacement by Wednesday, despite his impending arrival receiving a lukewarm response on Tyneside.

The news came after Shepherd was unintentionally caught in an embarrassing exchange with Liverpool supporters over Michael Owen, broadcast on internet site YouTube.

Watch the video below and scroll down to read more:

He joked with fans from koptalk.com that he would "Carry Owen back to Anfield for £9million" then, grinning at the camera, hastily backtracked to say the player was OK but that he had a problem with his agent.

Shepherd accused Owen's representatives on Thursday of trying to engineer a move but warned that none of the big four are interested.

Newcastle caretaker boss Nigel Pearson on Friday insisted the row would not be a problem.

"Michael is glad to be playing again. He's single-minded and I've got no questions that he's focused on what he's doing," he said.