More than 300 supporters flocked to St James's Park last night as news filtered their beloved Messiah had resigned.

Keegan said he had no choice other than to quit because the club's hierarchy did not allow him to have control on transfers, adding that he could see no way forward with the directors.

But all of the fans who travelled to the ground to protest last night said it should be club owner Mike Ashley who walked, and threatened to boycott the club, and Ashley's retail empire until the billionaire businessman quits.

Season ticket holder Keith "Beefy" Roberts, 45, from Jarrow, said fans won't give Ashley any choice but to quit.

He said: "The only thing Ashley can do now is sell the club and walk away, and take Dennis Wise with him.

"A lot of the fans will boycott the matches now, and trust me they will never give him another penny.

"No one will buy from Sports Direct, no one will buy programmes and no one will buy any club merchandise.

"I've never seen the anger we are seeing among fans right now. The relationship between fans and club owner is completely demolished."

Keegan spent two days in talks with Ashley following a bitter fallout over transfer policy. It is believed the 57-year-old was furious Ashley handed executive director (football) Dennis Wise the final say on who came in and out of the club.

Ashley even flew back from a holiday in Barbados in an attempt to salvage the relationship between manager and owner.

But the rift, it seems, was too big to repair, and Keegan announced his resignation in a statement through the League Managers' Association just before 7pm yesterday, saying: "A manager must have the right to manage."

Within minutes of the news breaking, bitter fans let their voice be heard by staging a protest outside St James's Park last night, with chants of: "Sack the board!"

One of those fans was Jack Harrison, 26, from Hebburn. He said: "This is the worst thing that has ever happened to this club. I'm not going to another match.

"I'm not giving Ashley another penny of my money. He should just stick to selling cheap football shirts, because he's not welcome here.

"How can you possibly treat a legend like that. Ashley should hang his head in shame."

The main fans' website nufc.com was bombarded with floods of angry emails within hours of Keegan's departure, including a list of 12 actions how fans can protest.

And on the Gazette's website, fan Johnny Rubber urged supporters to join an line vote of no confidence.

So far more than 500 fans had signed the Internet petition. To join in log onto www.gopetition.co.uk/online/21664.html.