Post-match comments from Kevin Keegan:
"It was not a big decision. I love this club, I don’t think anyone would ever doubt that, so from that point of view it was very easy.
“I was doing other things and life has moved on so I had to make a decision, but in the end it was very easy.
“I met the owner and like him very much. I met the chairman and just asked them what they felt was needed at Newcastle and what they wanted.
“Having spent an hour with the owner it convinced me to come back.
”There may be a bit of unfinished business.
”Everyone has got opinions about what people should and should not do, but I feel this is right.”
”It is a strong, talented group of players which is something I did not have when I came last time,” he stated.
“It is exciting and I am just as excited as when I came here to play at 31 and when I came to manage here for the first time.
“A lot of people outside the region don’t understand this club, I do. I know what they want, I know what they don’t want, and as long as they are realistic and a little bit patient I think we can try again and help them dream of something.”
“I have just started, I have just come down from Glasgow.
”I will have a good look at it, have a look at the squad, and I want to learn a lot in a short space of time.”
Post-match reports tell of Keegan agreeing a three and a half year contract on a claimed salary of £3m per year.