FURIOUS Newcastle fans have threatened a bitter backlash against what they regard as attempts to force Kevin Keegan out of the club.

Around 500 supporters gathered at St James Park yesterday as rumours the man they call The Messiah had been sacked spread through the city.

Their chants of Theres only one Kevin Keegan and Sack the board left no one in any doubt where their sympathies lay.

They want owner Mike Ashley and his chief lackey Dennis Wise out of the door.

Ashley was seen downing a pint in one on TV at the weekend. But last night Toon fans reckoned he must have been smashed out of his head even to think about dumping Keegan as boss.

Even the clubs statement insisting Keegan had not been sacked did little to appease them.

Earlier Keegans No 2 Terry McDermott allegedly told the players King Kev was off, that James Milner was sold against the managers will and that the board did not go for a single one of the players on a wanted list he gave them.

The fans vowed there would be a mass boycott of the home match against Hull on September 13, saying as far as they were concerned he is being forced out by Ashley.

There is no doubt Ashley, a hero when Keegan returned to the club last January, is now public enemy No 1 on Tyneside.

Season-ticket holder Ray Evans, 37, said: Ive supported Newcastle all my life and cant ever remember being this angry about the goings-on at the club.

When I heard the rumours on the radio about Kevin going I decided to take time off work and come to the ground to see what was going on. The mood here is very ugly and rightly so.

Its an absolute disgrace. Kevin Keegan is one of the few good things about this club and theyve treated him like dirt.

He has had no money for players, no support for what hes trying to achieve and no respect from Ashley and the rest of the board.

Ashley likes to represent himself as a man of the people, who sits with the fans and buys us a pint. Wed prefer it if he bought a few decent players instead.

I will be giving the Hull match a swerve in protest at what is going on. And from what I gather, there will be a good few thousand more empty seats.

Another lifelong fan, Michael Sweeney, declared: The board havent given him a fair chance and theres a definite feeling among the fans they are trying to force him into a corner so he will resign.

Kevin is a man of principles and the board probably feel if they push him too far hell tell them to stuff it.

I'LL DO IT THIS WAY ... Kevin Keegan with Mike
Ashley on the day of his return as Newcastle manager

We would understand him doing that but, of course, its the last thing we want to happen.

Keegan IS The Messiah, the only person who can lead us out of this mess and get the club back to a position where we can hold our heads up with pride.

Frank Gilmour, of the Independent Newcastle United Supporters Association, said: Its a farce. You cannot run a football club like this. With all the interference and messing about he has had to put up with, I wouldnt blame Keegan for going.

The ugly mood at St James Park yesterday, with hysterical television coverage inaccurately claiming Keegan had been sacked, was in stark contrast to the celebrations eight months before.

Then delirious fans partied until they dropped after Keegans return. The Toon Army dreamed that Keegan, who in the mid-90s turned Newcastle into the great entertainers and almost won the Premier League, was going to bring back the glory days.

Ashley had delivered The Messiah to the faithful and donned a new shirt bearing the legend King Kev. It seemed like a marriage made in heaven. Instead it was a union forged in hell.

Keegan made a bad start, failing to win any of his first eight games, the football was drab and his bosses got twitchy as the club flirted with relegation.

Wise was appointed head of recruitment and seemed to have little rapport with the manager.

It seemed players were arriving of whom Keegan had never heard.

Keegan pulled Newcastle out of trouble but claimed they could not hope to challenge the top four as he lacked funds and supporters would have to make do with fifth at best.

Ashley, who bought the club for £133.1m in May 2007, was gobsmacked. Keegan was summoned to a tense meeting in London to explain himself and told, in no uncertain terms, to belt up.

He has since hit trouble over the new deal for Michael Owen, Milners shock exit for Aston Villa and bad boy Joey Barton.

Keegan wanted to keep Barton yet, on transfer deadline night on Monday, Newcastle were talking to Portsmouth about his possible sale.

Toon bosses wanted £4m. Portsmouth offered £1m, then £1.5m plus midfielder Papa Bouba Diop.

Newcastle said No. Yet the fact the club had entered negotiations was a clear snub to Keegan.

What was also clear was Keegan and his board just could not work together.