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Kinnear: Newcastle fans talking out of their backsides

There is still no confirmation from Newcastle on the appointment of Joe Kinnear © PA Photos

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Joe Kinnear has claimed that Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has hailed his imminent appointment as the club's director of football as "great news", and also criticised the club's fans after his last stint at Tyneside.

Kinnear is continuing to create headlines aplenty after stating he has been installed as Newcastle's director of football, even though another day has passed without confirmation from the St James' Park club.

Former Wimbledon manager Kinnear, who managed Newcastle in the 2008/09 season, has softened his stance on his role at the club by claiming that he and Pardew will have an equal say in player transfers moving forward.

"Before I had a meeting with [Newcastle owner] Mike Ashley, Derek Llambias said he's informed Alan Pardew [of the appointment], and Alan said, 'Great news, I'm delighted with that. At least I've got somebody who's a football guy,'" Kinnear told the Newcastle Chronicle.

"We always bump into each other at the Manager of the Year awards. Last year I was at the awards when Alan got it. I said, 'Congratulations, but you've got to get two more to catch me!'

"We're very, very good with each other. I've got the utmost respect for him and I can't see any problems between the two of us.

"Derek told me he's had a long talk with Alan, and explained that I'm coming in as director of football. He [Llambias] is going to go on the finance side, and anything to do with football is coming my side."

Kinnear was ridiculed during his first spell at Newcastle after he mistakenly calling midfielder Charles N'Zogbia by the name of Charles 'Insomnia' and those old failings returned to haunt him in what was a bizarre interview Kinnear gave to talkSPORT radio. In it he referred to Llambias as 'Derek Lambazee' and the club's star midfielder Yohan Cabaye as Yohan 'Kebab'.

Meanwhile, Kinnear hit out at the media for fuelling a campaign to discredit him after he created plenty of enemies in the press before his first spell at the club was ended when he suffered a heart attack in 2009.

"The Newcastle media wanted me to dance to their tune and I wasn't having it," he stressed. "I stood up to them and they didn't like it. I took no notice of them. They always had it in for me and the Geordie fans bought into it.

"The press are feeding these rumours to the Geordie fans and I just hope they're not daft enough to believe it. People say I've done nothing in this game, but I've played with some of the best players in the world, but people are ignoring this.

"What can I attract to this club? I can open the door to any football manager in the world. I speak to Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, any manager in all divisions. Some people are talking a load of tosh. I certainly have more intelligence than them, that's for sure.

"I don't know what angle they've got, if they want to sit down and argue with me... Some are talking out of their backsides, a load of tosh. I'm not accepting it, as simple as that. I have certainly got more intelligence than them, that's a fact."

Kinnear said he is due to have lunch with manager Pardew on Tuesday and revealed his belief that the club need to sign a top striker in a summer when they will 'look to make some money' on player sales.

"We are short of quality players and if we are to continue to compete in the Premiership, we have to be stronger," he added. "In my opinion we need a striker and I see that desperate.

"We will get the finance coming in from selling players and we need a quality striker. I'm sure Mike will pay up for that. He wants us to be successful, don't worry about that."

Pardew has yet to publicly comment on Kinnear's apparent return to the club, with speculation continuing to mount that he may not be willing to work with a director of football who appears to have been imposed upon him.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.