NEWCASTLE United are bidding to bring Leeds United manager Dennis Wise to St James’s Park.
 That’s the shock news The Chronicle can reveal today. And all the indications are that Wise is ready to leave Elland Road and join Kevin Keegan at United. Wise would not be involved in the day-to-day first-team duties but would be employed in a similar role to Frank Arnesen at Chelsea, overseeing all other aspects of the club. United sent a fax to Elland Road today with their offer for Wise, and the ball is very much in the court of Leeds chairman Ken Bates. Leeds will obviously want compensation and it looks as though Newcastle are quite happy to pay this, with Wise believed to be offered £1m a year, quadrupling his current salary. Wise has done brilliant for Leeds this season, making up that 15-point penalty that was imposed on them by the Football Association for their sins in the last campaign. But the word from Yorkshire is that Wise has become disenchanted with the managerial side of the game and is ready for the challenge United will undoubtedly offer. His wife is expecting another child and the Wise family have been upset at all the flak that he been flying around recently. Meanwhile, Keegan has pulled out of the race to sign Spurs’ French international Pascal Chimbonda, leaving United fans looking anxiously at Thursday’s transfer deadline. And the prospects for new players coming in this week appear to be diminishing, with KK saying: “It won’t be the end of the world if we did not bring anyone in by Thursday.” After losing Jonathan Woodgate to Spurs, Chimbonda would have been a handy signing for Keegan as the pacy 27-year-old can play both at right-back and as a central defender. Chimbonda was quoted last week that he would love to hitch himself on to the Keegan bandwagon, and the United boss was keen. But when I asked Keegan about Chimbonda today he replied simply: “It won’t be happening.” Now I expect Chimbonda to join either Aston Villa or Seville. Keegan is facing a race against time to bring in a central defender before Thursday | 
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