NEWCASTLE UNITED lost patience with Kevin Keegan because they told him to manage the team in the style of Arsène Wenger and he wanted to do the job like Jose Mourinho. With the credit crunch looming, Keegan was given a £12m transfer budget in the summer, but produced a wish list that would have cost more than 10 times as much. His nominated transfer targets were David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry.

Tony Jimenez, Newcastle’s vice-president overseeing recruitment, instead proposed Samir Nasri, before he joined Arsenal, Sebastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich, and Espanyol’s Valmir Valdo. The last straw, which led Keegan to walk out, is said to have been the sale of James Milner to Aston Villa, which the manager sanctioned on the basis that Schweinsteiger, who starred for Germany at Euro 2008, would be signed as a replacement. Newcastle agreed a deal with Bayern, only for the midfielder to turn down the move. The Sunday Times can reveal that neither Keegan nor Dennis Wise, the executive director with whom he fell out, were the original choices for their respective jobs. Club owner Mike Ashley wanted Harry Redknapp as manager and Terry Venables as his eminence gris, but both rebuffed him.

Anxious to set the record straight over the reasons behind Keegan’s departure, the club issued a statement yesterday refuting many of the claims made on his behalf. The most crucial of the points it makes is that Keegan accepted the job last January in the full knowledge he would have to report to a director of football and to the board. The statement insists that Keegan had specific duties relating to training, coaching, selection and motivation of the team and that he was allowed to carry them out without interference from any board member. It continues: “It is a fact that Newcastle is a business and operates, like all businesses, with financial constraints . . . and those constraints inform its transfer dealings. The structure at [the] club is clear and has been from January 16, 2008.”

A boardroom source told The Sunday Times last night: “Kevin says a manager should have the right to manage, and nobody would disagree with that, but not to manage regardless. In any business, people have to manage within the constraints and budgets applied by their company. Kevin couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do that.

“Right from the start, at his interview for the job, it was made perfectly clear 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 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 Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. We talked of building the club up over three to five years. Kevin took the job on those terms.”

Against that background, the directors were gobsmacked when Keegan came up with the names of Beckham, Ronaldinho, Lampard and Henry. “It was so bizarre,” our source said, “that I wondered if he was doing it on purpose, to try to get sacked. 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 that he had around £12m to spend. We have been looking for a centre-half. Kevin’s suggestions were Jonathan Woodgate, Sami Hyy-pia and Richard Dunne. Where’s the residual value in them?

“On the Milner issue, the truth is that Kevin sat in on a meeting where the sale was discussed. Kevin r e c k o n e d J a m e s w a s w o r t h £7m-£8m, and the plan was to use that cash to buy Schweinsteiger. Jimenez did the negotiations with Villa and managed to agree a fee of £12m. Everyone thought it was too good to turn down, so the deal was done. Unfortunately, Schweinsteiger then said he wouldn’t come.”

The board reject suggestions from the Keegan camp that they tried to sell Michael Owen behind the manager’s back. Our source said: “We definitely didn’t try to sell Michael and didn’t speak to any club about him. On the contrary, we have made him a very good offer to stay. It is an extended and improved contract, the richest ever offered to any Newcastle player. He has sent a letter back, saying he appreciates the offer, and talks are ongoing.”

Newcastle on the attack last night as Keegan row hots up

Anxious to set the record straight over Kevin Keegan’s departure on Thursday, Newcastle issued a statement late last night refuting many of the claims made on his behalf. Attempting to counter ‘inaccurate reporting of factual matters and inaccurate allegations’, the statement says:

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. He worked within that structure until his resignation. As manager, [he] had specific duties in that he was responsible for the training, coaching, selection and motivation of the team. He was allowed to manage his specific duties without any interference from any board member

It is a fact that Kevin Keegan agreed only to deal with the media [about] matters relating to the team and not to communicate about the acquisition or disposal of players

It is a fact that Newcastle United Football Club is a business and operates, like all businesses, with financial constraints [that] inform its transfer dealings. The board have a responsibility to ensure that the club is able to meet its commitments, which include the wages and the transfer fees for players