Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan has revealed that he never intended to sign a host of players in January transfer window and the only target he was interested in was defender Jonathan Woodgate, who however went to Tottenham.

"The transfer deadline passed without me signing a player; whilst I would like to have fetched Jonathan Woodgate in and that's well documented, I wasn't looking to fetch four or five in and say I needed to change everything,” Keegan, who returned to St James’ Park for his second stint in January, told the club’s official website.

"I was looking forward to working with the players here. And that's what we did."

"What I didn't know was what players I had today," he continued. "I knew the names, but not what character they'd got and I knew all the top teams, but it was the other ones we were going to be playing.

"I didn't know all the players, I'll be honest with you and I was honest enough to say that at the time. I hadn't watched a live game for three years. To me, that's not necessarily a big deal.

"I know now, having been here three months, that half the targets I'd like are the same people I'd have liked when I was out of the game, looking at them and thinking 'wow, if I was a manager now, that's the sort of player you'd like at your club'."