KEEGAN ACCUSED OF TRYING TO INSTIGATE HIS SACKING - REPORTS

The acrimonious fall-out from Kevin Keegan's resignation as Newcastle United manager has taken a bitter new twist after a board member reportedly accused Keegan of attempting to engineer his own dismissal.

While Keegan, speaking through the League Managers' Association, has cited his lack of influence over the club's transfer activity as the reason he resigned last week after three days of talks at St James' Park, the club has responded with a strongly-worded statement denying that they had broken the terms of his contract.

"Newcastle United have no desire to engage in a war of words, but inaccurate reporting of factual matters and inaccurate allegations have to be corrected," the statement read. "It is a fact that Kevin Keegan, on appointment on January 16, 2008, agreed to report to a director of football and to the board.

An unidentified board member at St James' has since intensified the attack on Keegan by suggesting that he deliberately sought to provoke the club into sacking him - an act that would have reputedly earned him £8m in compensation.

"Right from the start, at his interview for the job, it was made perfectly clear to him the way the club wanted the job done. There was not going to be a Chelsea scenario, with Newcastle paying big money and massive wages for established stars," the 'board director' told The Sunday Times.

"The club was going to be run like Arsenal, and the emphasis would be on scouring the world for the best emerging young talent, like Arsène Wenger has done with Nicolas Anelka, Patrick Vieira, Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. We talked of building the club up over the next three to five years. Kevin sat there, agreed and took the job on those terms."

Instead, it is claimed that Keegan proposed signing David Beckham, Ronaldinho, Frank Lampard and Thierry Henry this summer.

"It was so bizarre that you had to wonder if he was doing it on purpose, to try to get sacked," the source said. "There was no getting through to him. What he wanted would have cost the club £200m in transfer fees and wages, and he had been told over and over again that he had around £12m to spend. It is common knowledge that we have been looking for a centre-half. Kevin's suggestions were Jonathan Woodgate, Sami Hyypia and Richard Dunne. Where's the residual value in them?

"On the James Milner issue, the truth is that Kevin sat in on a meeting where the sale was discussed. Kevin reckoned James was worth £7m-£8m, and the plan was to use that cash to buy Sebastian Schweinsteiger [from Bayern Munich]. Tony Jimenez [vice-president in charge of player recruitment] did the negotiations with Villa and managed to agree a fee of £12m with them, which was brilliant. Everyone thought it was too good to turn down, so the deal was done. Unfortunately, Schweinsteiger then said he wouldn't come."