Terry Venables has been contacted by Newcastle United regarding their vacant manager's position. After a five-year hiatus from domestic football, the former England head coach is mulling over the prospect of accepting what is a deeply challenging role at St James' Park.

The 65-year-old has spoken to a senior figure at the club and further discussions are expected this morning, although overtures have also been made to Glenn Hoddle. As of yet, Venables has had nothing to consider or reject.

While Newcastle's tactics, as ever, do not point to great clarity, they hope to announce a successor to Kevin Keegan before Saturday's match at home to Blackburn Rovers. After Mike Ashley's decision to sell Newcastle, the owner has targeted an experienced figure to aid Chris Hughton, the caretaker, and guide the club through one of the most difficult periods in their history.

The odds on Venables replacing Keegan plummeted from 33-1 to 2-1 favourite with some bookmakers yesterday, but Hoddle is also being considered. Hoddle - who, along with Keegan and Venables is another England alumni - has not had a

club job since 2006, when he left Wolverhampton Wanderers, and has recently been occupied establishing a football academy in Spain.

Movement of some sort is necessary because freefall is beckoning. Since September 4, when Keegan submitted his resignation, supporters have launched vigorous protests against Ashley's regime, while the morale of the players has also suffered. Newcastle are second-bottom of the Barclays Premier League and suffered their fourth consecutive defeat last night, losing 2-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup.

Having botched attempts to bolster significantly their squad during the transfer window, Newcastle are now facing another season of turmoil. Ashley's concern is that more poor results and the threat of relegation will not assist his attempts to cut his ties on Tyneside. He has hired Seymour Pierce, the investment bank, to handle the sale of the club.

To that end, the consortium from Nigeria fronted by Chris Nathaniel is set to make a statement by the weekend on the possibility of buying Newcastle. “It is a very serious offer, they are very serious business people and passionate football fans,” Nathaniel said yesterday. “We are still in the early stages. Hopefully in the next 48 hours we will be in a position to make a statement and take the situation further.” Apart from the Nigeria interest, consortiums in China and the United States could also become involved.

The Newcastle hierarchy view Venables as the ideal candidate to steer the club through troubled waters. With their future tenure uncertain and Keegan refusing to contemplate returning to the club while Dennis Wise, the executive director, and Derek Llambias, the managing director, are still in place, they have effectively torn up their original shortlist.

Gustavo Poyet, Paul Ince and Didier Deschamps - all close friends of Wise, whose influence over transfer policy has made him a hugely divisive figure at Newcastle - were the preferred choices to follow Keegan, but that plan has now been shelved.

Spurs are the only team below Newcastle in the table, but they still have a hold on the competition that they won last season. Roman Pavlyuchenko, their £14million summer signing from Spartak Moscow, scored his first goal for the club in the 62nd minute, with Jamie O'Hara adding a second six minutes later. Michael Owen scored a consolation goal for Newcastle two minutes from time.