Chris Hughton proud to take up United job

CHRIS Hughton has described his impending appointment as Newcastle United's permanent manager as one of the greatest moments of his life after the Magpies scraped a 2-1 win over Doncaster Rovers.

Hughton has all but agreed a contract until the end of the season with the option of another year if Mike Ashley has still not managed to sell the club, and will sign it this week following a brief delay in getting the paperwork done last week.

As revealed in The Journal on Friday, Ashley - who has broken off negotiations with an American consortium fronted by Geoff Sheard - will not take the club off the market at this stage, although a new round of talks with Barry Moat over the weekend has not broken the deadlock.

Sources close to the deal have once again claimed those talks will continue at the start of this week, although the club insisted last night they had no comment to make regarding any progress in the discussions with Moat - who sat in front of Ashley in the directors' box at St James's Park on Saturday.

In the meantime, Hughton, who was the first black player to represent the Republic of Ireland, will continue to work towards promotion after Kevin Nolan's injury-time winner brought the Magpies their first win in five games at the end of another disjointed performance against Doncaster.

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