Shearer catalyst for fans NEWCASTLE United’s biggest supporters’ groups have joined forces to launch a campaign calling for the immediate appointment of Alan Shearer as manager.

With the club’s players due to return for the start of preseason training on Wednesday, Newcastle remain in a state of limbo, with Mike Ashley’s attempts to sell up continuing to hamper preparations for the new campaign.

With a sale still no nearer completion, Chris Hughton is poised to return as caretaker manager despite two unsuccessful spells in charge of the club last season.

However, representatives of the Newcastle United Supporters’ Club (NUSC) have teamed up with fanzine The Mag, unofficial club website nufc.com, contributors from True Faith magazine and the spokesman from the official Newcastle United Supporters’ Panel to call for Shearer’s immediate appointment as manager.

“The time has come to show the outside world that the supporters of Newcastle United are ready to move on and get behind the club,” said NUSC spokesman Colin Whittle.

“We believe that the appointment of Alan Shearer would send out a massive signal to potential buyers and, most importantly, the fans, who have so far been ignored.”

Having formed an official supporters’ trust, NUSC are hoping to buy a stake in Newcastle to guarantee an involvement in future decisionmaking.

“We all want the club to progress and the idea behind the trust is that we will be a representative body for the supporters that can work with the club for the future benefit of the club and the supporters.

“At the moment, a fans’ buyout is not a realistic possibility, but in the medium term we would like to be able to create substantial funding to buy into the club.”

Meanwhile, former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has defended his decision to pay £16m to sign Michael Owen from Real Madrid.

Shepherd, who is spearheading one of the four consortia currently involved in a process of due diligence, signed the cheque when Owen agreed a four-year contract, worth around £110,000-aweek.

The signing will be remembered as one of the worst in Newcastle’s history, but Shepherd has no regrets about his involvement in the deal.

“Hindsight is a great management tool,” he said.

“Everybody’s wise after the event. It’s very easy for people to say signing Michael Owen was a disaster, but everybody said it was a fantastic deal at the time.”