Shearer thought Toon job was in bag

Alan Shearer has claimed Newcastle performed a U-turn after initially agreeing to appoint him as manager despite the club's relegation.

Shearer was unable to prevent the club from slipping out of the Premier League as he claimed just one victory from his time at the helm, with a final-day defeat sending the North East side tumbling into the Championship.

After face-to-face discussions with owner Mike Ashley's hierarchy, the former England international believed an agreement had been reached for him to be appointed on full-time basis, only to discover a wall of silence which has still not been breached.

Shearer said: "I thought I had the job at Newcastle.

"We had got relegated and I had sat down with the appropriate guys and we had agreed everything. Then two days later...

"I have not spoken to them since. I rang someone up and he didn't know what was going on, and I never got a phone call after that."

Ashley instead elected to appoint Chris Hughton, initially in a caretaker capacity before making his role full-time, with Shearer admitting his surprise and delight that his former assistant managed to secure promotion at the first attempt.

Shearer said: "He has done a magnificent job. He is a really, really nice guy and was a big help to me when I went in there.

"I have got to be honest, I didn't think Newcastle would come back up at the first attempt with the team they had.

"They had some very good players in there, but the vast majority were the players who took them down, and you have got to give Chris tremendous credit for that.

"He steadied the ship and without doubt, he deserves a crack at the big league now."