Newcastle United’s capacity to surprise, bemuse and infuriate surpassed even their high standards yesterday when Joe Kinnear was named the club’s interim manager. The 61-year-old, who has not worked in football since 2004, has initially been hired until the end of October, when he expects the club to be sold and himself to be replaced by Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer.

Kinnear was immediately dismissed as a “joke appointment” by one respected club fanzine editor and the mention of Keegan and Shearer, who have legendary status on Tyneside, will bring accusations of propaganda against Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s besieged owner. As of last night, neither man had been spoken to by the club or their prospective owners. “It’s news to me,” Shearer said.

After Terry Venables, the former England head coach, had rejected the offer of a match-to-match contract, Newcastle turned their attention to Kinnear. As with each of the names on their managerial shortlist — from Venables, Gustavo Poyet to Paul Ince — Kinnear has a close association with Dennis Wise, the club’s executive director (football), with both men having worked at Wimbledon.

Yet it was Ashley who phoned Kinnear, who did not feature in the betting for the post, late on Thursday night. The two men met for further discussions in London yesterday before Kinnear, whose coaching CV includes spells at Wimbledon, Luton Town and Nottingham Forest, was presented with a short-term deal that will earn him up to £300,000. He will watch today’s home match against Blackburn Rovers from the stands.

“He [Ashley] made it quite clear that he hopes to have the club sold by the beginning of October,” Kinnear, who has a history of poor health, said. “I worked it out that I would be in charge for between six and eight games. But he assures me that they have a buyer and the consortium coming in have Kevin Keegan lined up and possibly Alan Shearer. I’m well aware of the situation.

“Good luck to Kevin if he’s coming back. He’s the fans’ choice and you know what the fans are like, they call the tune. I just hope they realise I’m in there doing the best I can. I have good experience of the game and I’ve never backed down from a challenge. And this is a big one. The worrying thing for me is that there are nine players injured long term and all nine would be in the side.”

Kinnear’s mathematics are questionable. Newcastle play five matches — including an away game against Sunderland — between today and October 28, when they play host to West Bromwich Albion, while the Keegan and Shearer link appears premature. Kinnear claimed that a Nigerian consortium is Ashley’s “first choice” of buyer, but its interest is yet to result in a formal offer.

Chris Nathaniel is fronting the Nigerian group and he said yesterday that no contact had been made with Keegan and that the financial clout of his backers was to be established. “I’ve been told the money is there in Nigeria, but I need to see evidence of it here before we can present it to the club,” he said.

Kinnear said that his arrival would “disappoint” fans. “I thought that Terry [Venables] would be a certainty to take it,” he said. “But the call came out of the blue. He [Ashley] said I had a good track record of keeping teams afloat and I’ve never been involved with a side that’s been relegated in my life. I’m not a fool. I realise nobody else wants it and it’s probably the shortest contract in the history of football, but it’s a big challenge at a great club.” For the record, Kinnear was in charge at Luton Town when they were relegated from the third tier in 2001.

Part of his challenge will be motivating a team who have lost four matches in a row, are next to bottom of the Barclays Premier League and are underwhelmed by developments.