Toon Army urged to 'forget Keegan era'

The former Magpies boss' name immediately sprang to the lips of the long-suffering Toon Army in the wake of Sam Allardyce's departure, with many expressing their hopes for a Keegan-Alan Shearer dream ticket.

But Anderson said: "I hear all these supporters talking about an Alan Shearer-Kevin Keegan dream team - there is no way in the world Kevin is going to come back here."

He added: "The reason people remember Kevin so fondly is because of the style of football and the way his team played.

"But you are never, ever going to get that again because there is so much pressure in the game now when it comes to the financial side of it. You couldn't do now what Kevin did, pick 11 players and say, 'Go out and play. If they score four, you score five'."

Shearer, who eclipsed the legendary Jackie Milburn's record of 200 goals for the club during the final season of his playing career, is held in similar regard to Keegan in the city, and was inevitably thrust to the head of the list of candidates in the immediate aftermath of the Allardyce announcement.

But with no encouragement coming from the 37-year-old, who was on holiday in Barbados when the news broke, and the word from St James' suggesting the club is looking for experience this time around, that also seems an unlikely scenario.

However, Anderson is not so sure that will remain the case. He said: "It was Kevin's first job as well, but I suppose it was a different scenario then.

"We were in the old second division and looked like we were going down into the third. It was a rags to riches story, so to speak. I don't know. Would he want that pressure?

"He seems happy enough doing his television work. Does he need it? That's the big question."