Alan Shearer

In another surprise move on 1 April 2009, former club captain Alan Shearer took a sabbatical from his Match of the Day presenter's role to became the club's interim manager, in an attempt to try and steer the club clear from relegation.Dennis Wise departed shortly afterwards, with the club announcing he would not be replaced by a new Director of Football.Despite Shearer's appointment Newcastle won only one game under Shearer with a 3–1 win over Middlesbrough at St. James' Park, drew 2 and lost 5. All three North East Premier League teams, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough faced the prospect of relegation with one game to play on 24 May 2009 threatening Newcastle's Premier League status for the first time in 16 years. Newcastle United were relegated along with Boro when they lost 1–0 to Aston Villa at Villa Park after an own goal by former midfielder Damien Duff.

Following their relegation, the club was put up for sale again for a price of £100 million. Owner Mike Ashley noted that "It has been catastrophic for everybody. I’ve lost my money and I’ve made terrible decisions. Now I want to sell it as soon as I can."Newcastle United released an official statement on the clubs sale and included a press phone number and email address which was quickly made further public by the national press, although the address provided was merely for general enquiries. This resulted in a large number of hoax bids being sent, most of which were made by rival Sunderland supporters.More controversy was once again caused by Dennis Wise who claimed the club were still paying him £80,000 a month despite his departure in April 2009, and claimed it was a factor in why Ashley was struggling to sell the club.

In October 2009, Keegan’s dispute with the club was resolved, 10 months on from his departure, with the Newcastle legend receiving £2million compensation as agreed in his contract which the club failed to pay him following his resignation. A Premier League arbitration panel, ruled in Keegan’s favour citing that player Ignacio González was signed by Director of Football Dennis Wise against Keegan’s wishes, but also against the principles of the generally understood role of a Premier League manager, which usually states the manager’s decision is final on player signings. The panel revealed that Wise asked Keegan to review González from youtube.com, no more than 24 hours before the closing of the summer transfer window, from which Keegan refuted the player. The club revealed to the panel that their response to the media and public critique was just ‘PR,’ that Keegan had never been informed his word was not final, and that they were not in a position to sack him should he not have agreed to their demands.