Kevin Keegan's future as Newcastle manager remains in doubt on Thursday after he missed training for the third day in a row.

Mike Ashley is understood to be returning to Tyneside on Thursday afternoon after conducting a business trip, although as of Thursday lunchtime the club had failed to explain Keegan's absence.

After Keegan missed training on Wednesday - with reports suggesting he was in Manchester discussing his situation with a legal team - the club released a short statement saying that he has not been sacked and that talks between the Board and Keegan were ongoing.

Earlier on Wednesday, the League Managers' Association insisted that Keegan had not resigned as manager of Newcastle United.

"Kevin Keegan has been in discussions with the LMA chief executive Richard Bevan," said an LMA statement.

"Over the course of the next few days Kevin will be communicating with the club's board to discuss a number of important issues."

Bevan added that the LMA would endeavour to keep everyone informed of the situation - but insisted Keegan had not quit.

"Newcastle football club and its fans are massively important to Kevin and he has not resigned as manager of the club," said Bevan.

"The LMA will keep supporters, media and other stakeholders within the game fully informed of developments."

Reports on Wednesday also suggested that Keegan is in talks with his lawyer's over his position as he looks for a way out.

On Tuesday, Newcastle released a statement after several hours of speculation that he had been sacked which led to an angry protest from over 1,000 fans outside St James' Park.

The statement read: "Kevin has raised a number of issues and those have been discussed with him.

"The Club wants to keep progressing with its long-term strategy and would like to stress that Kevin is extremely important, both now and in the future.

"Newcastle United values the effort and commitment shown by Kevin since his return to St. James' Park and wants him to continue to play an instrumental role as manager of the Club.

"For the avoidance of doubt the Club has not sacked Kevin Keegan as manager."

The news that Keegan could be on his way out of the club came after it was reported earlier on Tuesday that Keegan was holding a hastily arranged meeting with Mike Ashley.

Keegan was unhappy about future plans and failed transfer deals, with reports that Dennis Wise had pulled the plug on a proposed deal for Lazio defender Gugliemo Stendardo and that Ashley had stated that every player in the squad was for sale if the price was right.

Keegan was appointed Newcastle manager for a second time in January after the sacking of Sam Allardyce.

It was reported shortly after his arrival that he was unhappy with restructuring at the club which saw Dennis Wise appointed as executive director.

Newcastle's only business on transfer deadline day was a £5.7million swoop for Spanish striker Xisco and the loan signing of midfielder Ignacio Gonzalez from Valencia.

OddsPreview.com undertands that both deals were conducted by Wise and fellow director Tony Jimenez, with Keegan unaware of either player.

Wise and Jimenez were also heavily involved in the signings of Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez, although Keegan was involved in the signing of Danny Guthrie.

Keegan was also unhappy that the club had sold James Milner to Aston Villa last week in a £12million deal. Keegan, a huge fan of the winger, had just days before the transfer said there was no chance of the player being sold.

Keegan's loyalty to Joey Barton, who the club tried to offload on Monday, has also caused problems behind the scenes.

Wise had already been installed as 4-1 favourite with Skybet to replace Keegan as the next Newcastle boss before Keegan's meeting with Ashley and was as short as 7-4 favourite by the time the news of Keegan's supposed departure leaked out of the club.