Kevin Keegan has revealed Jonathan Woodgate's prospective switch to Tottenham was all but complete before he took over as Newcastle manager.

He said: "We have got to be realistic. When I look at the whole thing, I think Jonathan Woodgate had made a commitment already to another club and the deal was seven-eighths done before I even came to this club.

"That's the advantage of clubs being able to plan for four or five weeks of a transfer window, not two weeks.

"I jumped in because I thought there was an opportunity there - and I genuinely believed there was - but we were not able to take advantage of sweet-talking and things like that.

"I know Jonathan very well and I knew Middlesbrough were prepared to sell him, so that gave me the chance to have an input there.

"I tried my best and it didn't quite work. The lad had made a promise already and given his word. He didn't go back on it and that's to his credit.

"To be honest with you, we did say at the start that unless we could get quality players in who were going to better us, we would not get any in."

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