THE uncertainty surrounding Newcastle United took another twist yesterday amid claims that former chairman Freddy Shepherd will launch a £60m takeover.

Despite suggestions Shepherd is hopeful that a cutprice offer – £40m below the asking price – will be enough to convince owner Mike Ashley to sell, high-placed sources at St James’ Park remain unaware of such a plan.

And the man in charge of selling the club is adamant there are four consortia in with a chance of taking over, with Shepherd’s group not amongst them.

Keith Harris, the chairman of Seymour Pierce, is still hopeful that there will be developments before the end of the week on the sale, with the players due to start pre-season training this morning.

Indications from the Harris camp are that they do not regard Shepherd as being on the verge of tabling an acceptable bid, and still consider the other parties involved to be more realistic buyers.

It has also been played down by those close to Shepherd.

All four of the consortia in discussions with Harris are thought to be fully supportive of the appointment of Alan Shearer as the club’s manager.

Ashley, though, is reluctant to make such a decision until he is assured that his time at the club is coming to a close.

One of the groups looking to take over is thought to have made greater progress than the other three, but there have been no offers deemed acceptable so far.

Ashley wants £100m for a club he paid £134.4m for just over two years ago and he has since invested another £110m in to eradicate debts and pay wages.

Hopes of a quick sale aimed at cutting his losses has not materialised and he has been forced to appoint Chris Hughton as temporary boss for a third time.

Hughton will take charge of training today and will be assisted by Colin Calderwood and Paul Barron, who will be expected to try to lift spirits among the players at such a difficult time.

Midfielder Joey Barton will be back at the Benton training headquarters he was told to stay away from by Shearer after the stand up row between the pair in the aftermath of his sending off at Liverpool last season.

Barton is among the long list of players up for sale at St James’ Park but as yet there has been no progress in attempts to sell their high earners.

■ Newcastle’s Championship fixture at Blackpool has been put back 24 hours and will now take place on Wednesday, September 16 at 7.45pm.

■ An online poll at northernecho.co.uk yesterday revealed that 60 per cent of voters felt that Freddy Shepherd should return as chairman.