Newcastle have confirmed that Kevin Keegan will make a dramatic return to manage the club.
The 56-year-old former Manchester City boss managed the Magpies from 1992 to 1997 and will return to St James' Park as Sam Allardyce's successor.
Gerard Houllier and Didier Deschamps were strongly linked with the position in the last two days but the club unexpectedly turned to Keegan.
He was initially linked only with a partnership role with Alan Shearer.
The ex-England coach was running his "Soccer Circus" in Glasgow after quitting his job at City in March 2005.
He was also linked with a return to the club last summer as director of football following Mike Ashley's takeover.
Keegan told BBC Sport in October that he was unlikely to manage a team again.
But he returns to Newcastle, having said on Monday: "I'm not ruling myself out or in. It's a club I love, everyone knows that."
Keegan took Newcastle to promotion back to the top flight in 1993 and came close to winning the league title in the 1995-96 season when they led Manchester United by 12 points before finishing as runners up.
He went on to manage Fulham, England and Manchester City but has not managed again since leaving City.
A sign of how highly regarded Keegan is on Tyneside was reflected in a statement on the Newcastle website: "Geordie messiah to be unveiled as new United manager."
Harry Redknapp had been first choice for Ashley and chairman Chris Mort but he last week opted to stay at Portsmouth.
Shearer was also touted as a possible replacement for Allardyce, but the former captain said earlier on Wednesday that Newcastle did not want him as their next manager because he lacks experience.
Shearer said he had yet to speak to Keegan about a possible return to St James' Park, but praised his managerial record during his five-year spell.
"He is highly thought of in Newcastle and rightly so because of what he did for the club," Shearer said.
"Kevin did something special, he's a special person with special charisma."
Keegan being a Liverpool legend I naturally wish him well, but this looks on the surface like a desperate move on Newcastle's part. As IVOR said the squad isn't a patch on their squad from the mid 90's and I can see this ending in tears and tarnishing Keegan's legacy.
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As Lando I wish him good luck, as he's most likely going to need it. Those barcode fans are so deluded, that it is almost criminal. They'll expect big big things from Keegan, and if he doesn't seem to be able to deliver, I would definitely not put it past them to turn against him, even if he was their own dream candidate for taking over in the first place.
Anyway, best of luck Kevin (and do try to pick up a few points against the mancs please )
I am a Keegan fan, and I really hope he does well up there. Will be keeping a close eye out for the Newcastle results from now on.
It's a joy to watch on Sky the Euphoria he has Galvanised amongst the Geordies. For their sake, hopefully he is wiser now with age. He'll need to sign 2 quality centre backs straight away imo.
Good luck Keegan, except when you're up against Liverpool