KEVIN KEEGAN sat in the echoing squash court in Durham that doubles as Newcastle United's venue for press conferences and lamented the fact that the essential ingredients with which he has filled his team were the two that were missing from the recipe.

It was the Monday after Newcastle had lost the League leadership to Arsenal and the day before Metz arrived at St James' Park.

Keegan hoped for better but on the night invention and flair were again left on the shelf as Newcastle whisked blandly. However, if Keegan was tempted to look to the stars for inspiration, his eyes would have stopped just yards above at the television gantry. There sat a genuine star and master of invention, Chris Waddle - how Keegan would have wished.

Only 11 days of Waddle's 36th year remained that night (he is 36 today) and to those who think it far fetched that he could still be playing for Newcastle there is Peter Beardsley (36 next month) and the fact that it is only nine months since Keegan last tried to sign Waddle. It never happened, though, and there is regret in Waddle's tone about that.

"Newcastle had a lot of injuries and suspensions at the time and I was ready to take a gamble. A player like myself would love to play for Newcastle or Man United or Liverpool, it's just the way they play football. And I think David Pleat would have let me go, but he had other pressures.

Not least from Sheffield Wednesday fans disgruntled that Waddle was beginning to freeze on the bench. Pleat, obviously aware of Waddle's rapport with Hillsbrough, had put a £750,000 figure on his player - Celtic had offered that before Newcastle but Waddle declined - and knocked back £300,000 from Sunderland.

Yet Pleat would not give Waddle the two year contract he wanted and, after a frustrating end to last term and summer, Waddle was finally given a free transfer. But it was only after this season had started.

"I didn't see that David Pleat had any plans for Chris Waddle. His ideal opportunity to let me go came when they won their first four League games and he obviously felt more secure. But the season had begun and most managers had their squads sorted."

So Waddle waited by the telephone but when it rang it was not Old Trafford or Anfield calling, it was Brockville Park Chris Waddle was off to Falkirk.

"I was a little disappointed by the lack of offers and I went to Falkirk to prove my match fitness, not just to others but to myself. I did that and when I came back (to England) it did surprise me that no one came in from the Premiership." After all it was only three seasons ago that he was Footballer of the Year.

However, he realises there may be a good reason for this. Waddle is ambitious, has made no secret of it, and any club manager tempted by the shuffling skills might be put off by the thought of a successor in waiting.

So in October Waddle was sitting in his house near Sheffield "with Saturday approaching. I'd got fit and had a few inquiries from Chesterfield, Walsall, that sort of level - no disrespect - then Bradford came along and said what I, wanted to hear: `Just go out and play'."

Initially with Bradford for a month, Waddle has signed until the end of the season and is in such form that last Saturday's performance at Maine Road was described in dispatches as a "masterclass".

Bradford still lost, however, and entertain Reading today with only Oldham below them at the bottom of the First Division, but Waddle would have appreciated the small irony had they won because Manchester City is the club with - which he has come closest to achieving his managerial ambition.

"Yeah, I spoke to a consortium and they were keen to instal me as the manager, but in the end I'm glad it didn't happen in a way.

"I want to go to a club that is as ambitious as I am, that wants to win things. I'm not just looking for a job for two years, then get the sack and have people saying, `Well, what did he do when he was here?'"

In a career entering its 18th year that has taken in Newcastle, Tottenham, Marseilles, Sheffield Wednesday, Falkirk, Bradford and England, Waddle has had plenty of management styles to digest and favours a combination of Terry Venables and Arthur Cox, a sort of charismatic disciplinarian.

"Terry had presence, he had this aura about him and could get players to express themselves. He could get players to believe that they were better than they were.

"Arthur Cox, he bullied me for two years and I thought he was a right bastard. But, I know now that he was never off my back because he wanted me to achieve something. Lots of young players think they are the finished article, but they're not - I still call him boss".

The secret, he thinks, is being streetwise - "common sense streetwise, and I've got that." So it is not fancy training regimes learned in Marseilles? "Nah, there we just played eight a side with big goals for an hour every morning. Mind you we had the players."

They certainly did: Abedi Pele, Jean Pierre Papin, Didier Deschamps and the man Bernard Tapie called "magic" - Chris Waddle.

His video was top of the bestsellers in France after he left, it was called The French Way. Keegan would have titled it Invention and Flair.