Black and white may be the colours, but surrealism remains the theme at St James’ Park, where events grow more bemusing as the nights grow longer. On the day that reports that a South African consortium was on Tyneside after bidding £300 million to buy Newcastle United were denied, Joe Kinnear made a belligerent and expletive-strewn attempt to reclaim his authority as the club’s interim manager.

Having started in his role officially on Monday, Kinnear stated yesterday lunchtime that his first pre-match press conference would also be his last. At issue was the media coverage that had greeted his appointment last Friday — and which reflected the underwhelmed response of the club’s supporters — although as an illustration of the mood of paranoia that has gripped the club’s hierarchy it was instructive.

In one regard the 61-year-old had a point; passing judgment on him is premature, given that the match away to Everton on Sunday will be his first in charge. And yet the wider context is damning; whether he likes it or not, Kinnear is the public face of Mike Ashley’s regime at a club who are up for sale, who have a paper-thin squad and a team who are next to bottom of the Barclays Premier League and whose fans are in revolt.

It has taken a week for Newcastle to concede that Kinnear’s contract does not come to an end on October 31, as had been claimed, but will instead become a “rolling” arrangement from the beginning of November. “I will be taking in as many international matches as I can, so that I will have a hitlist of players if I am still here in January,” Kinnear said yesterday on a very different scenario.

There have been other confusions, including the two-match touchline suspension that carried over from Kinnear's ill-fated spell at Nottingham Forest in 2004 and which he admitted he had not mentioned to Ashley. His intimation that the owner had informed him that Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer were lined up for management positions once a takeover was finalised was denied by Shearer.

Kinnear took exception to reports that queried the logic of Newcastle’s first-team players having Monday off. In the first five minutes of his comments to journalists, he employed 50 expletives, describing reporters as “c***s” and “so f***ing slimy”, but his threat to curtail media operations at a club who have been crippled by a lack of communication would appear questionable.

“I will stand up and fight for myself in any corner,” he said. “You’re not going to f*** me off or frighten me in any manner. Whatever you do, or whatever headlines you run, you’re not going to embarrass me. I’m not going to stand for it. I’ve come up here for a simple chance to f***ing prove myself. Get off my back and let me get on with my job. That’s all I ask. F***ing hell.”

In a calmer moment, Kinnear, the former Wimbledon manager, said that he is attempting to create “a siege mentality” among his players. “I sense the confidence is at the lowest it’s ever been,” he said. “Normally I’m used to dressing-rooms that are on fire.”

There was also an unwitting, implied criticism of the club’s transfer policy. “I think the number of languages spoken in the changing-room could be a reason,” he said. “We’ve got to address that.”

Locally, it has been reported that a group of British-based South African businessmen are on Tyneside to press home their interest in buying Newcastle, although that has been denied by a source close to Seymour Pierce, the company that has been charged with handling the sale of the club. The source said that, while a South African investment bank had made contact regarding Newcastle, no bid has been received and no negotiations have taken place with Jonathan Cleland, the businessman reputed to be leading the consortium.

Blasts from the past

Kevin Keegan produced the ultimate managerial rant as Newcastle manager in 1996 when on television he criticised Sir Alex Ferguson, his Manchester United counterpart, during the battle for the league title. Keegan was upset that Ferguson claimed that opponents might not try as hard against Newcastle.

Ferguson has been responsible for a series of outbursts, notably against the press, the most recent in the past few days. He claimed that, during the summer tour to South Africa, he was wrongly interpreted as suggesting that Chelsea were an old team who would soon fade. “I gave you access in South Africa and I shouldn't have given you access,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”

Words by Bill Edgar