Newcastle chairman Chris Mort has dismissed reports that owner Mike Ashley is ready to listen to takeover offers as "rubbish".
Reports have surfaced that former Magpies captain and club-record goalscorer Alan Shearer would front a consortium of north-east businessmen looking to buy out Ashley, and that a third-party financing group called PCP had been asked by Ashley to invite Dubai Investment Capital to turn their attentions away from Liverpool and towards Newcastle.
But Mort told The Times: "The reality is that the Alan Shearer story and the PCP story were both absolute rubbish. Alan has obviously denied he has been approached by a consortium and we had never heard of PCP until Monday's story."
The chairman also reiterated his support for manager Kevin Keegan, who returned to manage the club last month.
"He has a three-and-a-half-year contract and we are looking to see what can be achieved over that period."
King Kev rallies club to results
Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan has admitted results rather than the backing of his chairman will ease the pressure on his team.
The 57-year-old will send his side into battle with Manchester United tomorrow evening still waiting for the first win of his second spell as manager at St James' Park and with the Magpies having taken only three points from the last 27 on offer to slide down the Barclays Premier League table.
Continued speculation over the club's ownership, with reports suggesting owner Mike Ashley could be ready to sell up less than nine months after launching his takeover, has done little to calm the anxiety on Tyneside.
However, chairman Chris Mort moved last night to insist there is nothing in the rumours and to voice support for a manager who was brought in to replace Sam Allardyce after his ill-fated reign came to an abrupt conclusion.
Asked about the message of support, Keegan said with a smile: "It's nice to know - how many games have I had? Five?
"Any support like that is always good - but the one thing that is going to help us more than anything is a result, otherwise people keep going on about it all the time.
"As a club, we are under-performing, we know that, it doesn't matter whether I am here or anybody is here.
"Newcastle should not be where we are and we have got to dig in and fight our way out of it, and that's what we intend doing.
"Forget the stories, all the signs are that the club is planning right and it is going in the right direction - and it can go in the right direction with the owner we have got at the moment."
Keegan's five games to date have brought disappointing home draws with Bolton and Middlesbrough, two defeats at Arsenal and a third at Aston Villa last time out.
Tomorrow may not be the best time to face a side who trounced them 6-0 at Old Trafford last month in the immediate aftermath of Allardyce's departure, but the manager believes his former club provided some of the answers a fortnight ago.
Keegan said: "A couple of weeks ago, Manchester City showed if you do everything right, if you press at the right time, if you get a little bit in their faces at the right time and then have the courage to play - and they are three big asks - then you can cause them problems as well.
"They are not infallible - no football team is - but they are a very good side."
The fixture is one, of course, which has a history with the two managers finding themselves at the centre of an intense battle for the league title almost 12 years ago.
That season, United ultimately overhauled the Magpies, who at one point had raced 12 points clear at the top of the table.
Ferguson famously got under Keegan's skin, prompting his "I'd love it" outburst on live television.
Keegan said: "I look back and think probably I could have put it over a bit better. But I think I made my point. I was disappointed with something he said.
"Despite what people think, I have maximum respect and we get on well."
Keegan and his players got a measure of revenge the following season when they hammered five past United without reply in a game which is understandably still remembered with immense fondness on Tyneside.
Keegan said: "You have to understand the year before when we were really in a battle with them for the championship, we played very, very well and lost 1-0. Manchester United can do that to you.
"The time we beat them 5-0, although we played fantastically - and people remember the game - I don't think there was that much difference in the performances.
"We just put goals on the end of some good football in the second match."
