Newcastle United remain mired in the Barclays Premier League relegation zone, but rumours of their demise may be premature. Reduced to ten men for all but 12 minutes of their feisty 2-2 draw with Manchester City last night, Joe Kinnear's team came within a whisker of forcing an improbable victory, although this was a performance that eased the sense of crisis engulfing St James' Park.

However, the early decision by Rob Styles to send off Habib Beye, the Newcastle defender, for a professional foul will have done nothing to lighten the gloom on Tyneside. Television replays appeared to show that Beye won the ball as he made a last-ditch tackle on Robinho, but the referee immediately brandished a red card, Robinho getting up to convert the resultant penalty.

Shola Ameobi equalised before an own goal by Richard Dunne put Newcastle ahead, but their hopes of victory were ended four minutes from time when Stephen Ireland struck for the visiting side.

Still to record their second league win of the season and their first since Kevin Keegan's resignation - a sequence without victory that stretches for seven fixtures - Newcastle cannot claim to have turned the corner, although Kinnear's appointment as interim manager has brought dividends. Renewed confidence will be tested away to Sunderland on Saturday.

They remain in a delicate position. Newcastle's sale, which is being handled by Seymour Pierce, the investment bank, is continuing, but the concern is that delays in the process will affect the possibility of new owners strengthening the first-team squad during the next transfer window. That fear was raised by Alan Shearer, the club's record goalscorer, as was the increasing likelihood of Michael Owen's departure.

Sir Bobby Robson, the club's most successful manager in recent years and a lifelong supporter, has recommended Shearer - with an experienced figure alongside him - as the ideal candidate to replace Keegan on a permanent basis. While the 38-year-old was non-committal on the subject, he ruled nothing out.

“I have seen Sir Bobby and I thanked him for his kind words and told him he was looking well,” Shearer said. “Everyone knows I have done part of my coaching badges. I have not done the Uefa Pro Licence yet, which is mandatory, but I will do it at some stage. I have said it before, management interests me. But I cannot say I'd be delighted to come here because that would be wrong of me.

“I wouldn't rule anything out. I'm loving what I'm doing at the moment. I'm watching football matches every weekend, so in that sense I am still in the game. I can't say where it might happen and I can't say it would be here. Five days is a long time at this football club. I have huge respect for Joe Kinnear and good luck to him. No one would have turned that job down in his position.”

Yet Shearer accepted that the present position at Newcastle is corrosive. “The longer the club is standing still and no one knows what the future holds, the harder it will be to attract players,” he said. “It's possible Joe could still be here in January but no player will want to come here while everything is up in the air. You can't expect a player to sign a three or four-year contract while everything is so uncertain.”

Something similar applies to Owen, Newcastle's £16 million record signing, whose deal expires at the end of the season and who is eligible to sign a pre-contract with another club in three months. “It's so unstable at the moment,” Shearer conceded. “You can't blame players looking elsewhere if their contracts are running out.”