Joe Kinnear has detailed how he landed the Newcastle United job - and insists it had nothing to do with Dennis Wise.

The Toon manager told the Sunday Times: "I got a phone call from my agent, Jonathan Barnett, who told me, 'You can expect to hear from Mike Ashley, about Newcastle'," he says. "Mike then belled me and said, 'Can you come round to my house tomorrow?'

"So we had a chat. He said, 'I've offered the job to Terry Venables and he's blown me out. He didn't want it unless he got a contract for a minimum of 12 months, but I won't be here in 12 months, I'm selling up and the next people who come in might want Kevin back'.

"Ashley said, 'The maximum number of games you'll have is 10 and it might be less but I'll give you a contract for 10'. Apparently they'd offered the job to every Tom, Dick and Harry before they got to me but so what? I said, 'Okay, 10 games is fine'.

"Whatever happens, it's a great chance for me to put my name back in the frame and, if I do a good job, who knows what might be around the corner?"