Decision made on former Leeds United and Liverpool man ahead of Newcastle United meeting

Former Leeds United and Liverpool winger Harry Kewell has been denied the opportunity of managing against Newcastle United this week.

A fortnight ago, Kewell was sacked as boss of Yokohama F.Marinos, the team Newcastle play on Saturday (kick-off 7pm local time) as part of their pre-season tour of Tokyo.

Harry Kewell has been sacked from his role with Japan's Yokohama F. Marinos | AFP via Getty Images

placeholder image — Harry Kewell has been sacked from his role with Japan's Yokohama F. Marinos | AFP via Getty Images

Kewell scored 63 goals in 242 appearances for Leeds between 1996 and 2003 before a controversial switch to Liverpool. Since his hanging up his boost, the Australian has managed the likes of Crawley Town, Notts County, Oldham Athletic and Barnet but only his time at Crawley lasted longer than 12 months.

Kewell also worked under Ange Postecoglou at Celtic but has lasted just seven months in charge of the J-League side Yokohama. Despite guiding the club to the AFC Champions League final, where they were beaten by Al Ain, the side currently sit 11th in the table.

Newcastle head to Japan having beaten German third-tier side SpVgg Unterhaching 3-1 and Championship outfit Hull City 2-0 so far in pre-season. First up is Urawa Red Diamonds at the Saitama Stadium on Wednesday before ending the trip versus Yokohama.

United then return to England and host Girona and Stade Brestois at St James’ Park for the ‘Sela weekender’. A week later, the new Premier League campaign gets underway at home to Southampton.