JOE KINNEAR is not visiting Newcastle to collect a nice little nest egg — don’t be shocked if he is still there in 18 months.

I bumped into Joe and his wife Bonnie while enjoying a few days away with my missus in the summer in Marbella.

We were walking around the market looking for bargains, when we met Joe and went to have a cup of coffee to catch up.

He told me then he was busting to get back into football.

He was missing the buzz of picking a team and the excitement of match days and the challenge of management.

So it is not as if he has just been plucked from retirement. Far from it. Joe is not ready for that yet.

And who knows what could happen?

One of the criticisms levelled at his appointment as caretaker boss is that he has been out of football for too long during a time when it is undergoing massive transformations, so it does not resemble the game he left behind.

But the thing that hasn’t changed is that supporters are fickle.

If Joe manages to turn things around and get a few results, the fans will love him.

If owner Mike Ashley cannot find a buyer for the club for a while and things settle down on the pitch, Joe could well be left to get on with the job for a few months.

And one thing Joe is good at is motivating players. It was the main weapon in the armoury for the old Wimbledon Crazy Gang under Joe. And look what they achieved.

Self-belief is the key. Newcastle have a great deal of quality players on the books, unlike the old Dons.

Joe will have to convince the players to stop feeling sorry for themselves, tell them the owner’s problems are not their problems and it is no excuse.

Sometimes a new face around the corridors can do that.

And as for him being past it at 61 . . . rubbish. It is the new 21 — and purely a coincidence he’s exactly the same age as me!

But seriously, he is not that out of it. Joe took John Hartson to Wimbledon for £7.5million from me at West Ham.

So he has been in the game during the era of big-money transfers and it doesn’t scare him one bit.

He has also worked at Luton and Nottingham Forest in recent years so he will be well abreast of things.

Don’t write him off just yet.

Kevin Keegan had also been out of football for a while when he was welcomed back to Tyneside with open arms by the fans.

And he didn’t race out of the blocks like Linford Christie, did he? The team didn’t suddenly start winning under him.

They rode out last season with a few bumps along the way.

Joe has signed a short-term deal but I wouldn’t bet against him being Toon boss at the end of the season.

I bumped into another mate this week when Slaven Bilic popped into Portsmouth’s training ground to see our Croatian winger Niko Kranjcar.

I get the distinct impression he is really keen to work in the Premier League once he has led Croatia to the 2010 World Cup.

Like Joe Kinnear, there’s another face you should not be surprised to see in a manager’s office at a top-flight club one day.