Newcastle Left With O'leary After Venables Snubs Short-term Deal

Newcastle United remained managerless tonight after a day of intense negotiations concluded with Terry Venables turning down the chance to become Kevin Keegan's short-term successor. Mike Ashley, Newcastle's owner, may now turn to David O'Leary, the former Leeds United and Aston Villa manager who has been out of work since 2006 and is eager to return to football's frontline.

Although Ashley had hoped to persuade Glenn Hoddle to come out of managerial retirement, it is understood that the former England coach has no interest in the post. He apparently rejected an offer from Ashley before Venables was approached and is currently in Spain where he is committed to developing a football academy project.

Alan Curbishley's availability has also been noted by Newcastle but considering the fact that he resigned his position at West Ham because of misgivings about working within precisely the sort of continental style management structure also in place at St James' Park, he appears an unlikely candidate. O'Leary is believed to have significantly greater enthusiasm for the job but, even so, could yet balk at Ashley's idea of appointing a manager on a match-by-match basis.

With Newcastle's owner desperate to sell the club and a new regime likely to want to appoint their own coaching personnel, it is understood that Venables was offered the post on such an, effectively freelance, game to game arrangement. Following preliminary contact on Wednesday, the one time Barcelona, Tottenham and England manager met Ashley along with Dennis Wise - Newcastle's director of football and a long-term friend of Venables - and other board members in Chelsea harbour earlier today.

Before talks got underway in the morning Venables had intimated to friends that he was warming to the challenge of reviving Newcastle's fortunes, providing the contract offered a degree of security. With Ashley, who has appointed the investment bank Seymour Pierce to find a buyer for Newcastle, sticking to his game by game proposal, the chances of Venables accepting receded and by early afternoon confidants learnt it was "50/50" whether he would say yes.

Newcastle, though, refused to compromise and Venables duly walked away, apparently telling Ashley and company that the team's currently floundering players desperately needed the stability provided by having a manager employed on a proper contract.

Chris Hughton, the current St James' Park caretaker who was promoted from first team coach when Keegan resigned three weeks ago has urged the board to appoint a manager "as soon as possible" and it had been hoped that a new man would be in charge in time for tomorrow's game at home to Blackburn Rovers.

By then a Nigerian consortium intend to have lodged a formal bid to buy the club but city sources remain extremely dubious about the likely viability of an African takeover. However, Chris Nathaniel, the chief executive of NVA management, the entertainment company fronting the proposed Nigerian offer insists he and his colleagues are deadly serious and aim to reinstall Keegan as manager.

Rumors of interest from China, the United States and even the United Arab Emirates - a country where Ashley was understood to have "burnt his boats" following a disastrous "cold calling" trip to Dubai in an effort to sell Newcastle last week - continue to circulate but, even if a potential buyer begins the process of due diligence, it could take up to two months for a sale to be completed. By then Newcastle, who have now lost four successive games and attracted their lowest crowd in 16 years for Wednesday night's Carling Cup defeat against Tottenham, could well be badly adrift at the foot of the league.