AN angry Freddy Shepherd will hold urgent talks with Michael Owen next week in an attempt to diffuse the escalating row over the striker's future plans.

Owen, who was yesterday named in the England B squad for this month's Turf Moor friendly with Albania alongside club-mates Scott Parker and Kieron Dyer, will be urged to publicly commit himself to another season with Newcastle after a week that has seen speculation over his future intensify.

Earlier this week, reports began to circulate suggesting that Newcastle's failure to finish in a European spot was enough to trigger a clause in Owen's contract that enabled him to speak to any club bidding more than £9m for his services.

A furious Shepherd, who clearly believes that these reports were instigated by sources close to the striker's representatives, has claimed that they amount to little more than a 'come and get me plea' to the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, clubs who are likely to be in the market for a new centre-forward this summer.

Having spent £17m to buy Owen from Real Madrid two summers ago, and committed more than £2m to treat the striker after he ruptured his cruciate ligaments during last summer's World Cup finals, the Newcastle chairman is understandably alarmed at the prospect of losing the 27-year-old for a vastly reduced fee this summer.

And while Owen has previously spoken of his guilt at an appearance record of just 12 senior starts in the last two seasons, Shepherd will be seeking an assurance that he has no intention of engineering a move away from Tyneside this summer.

A senior Newcastle source said: "We are furious with Michael Owen's representatives who seem to think we would be oblivious to the fact they are involving their player with informal discussions with other clubs.

"There are plans for a meeting with both Michael Owen and his agents in order to gauge their feelings in the hope that Newcastle receives a positive response. The club feels it has done everything in its power to care for a player who was badly injured last summer and has rightly stood by him throughout his recovery."

Shepherd, who is already understood to have held a frank discussion with Owen's agents, the SFX Agency, has been at pains to stress that there has been no formal approach for Owen's services.

Having taken on the Football Association in an attempt to restrict the striker's international activities this summer, the Magpies chairman is deeply unhappy at suggestions that he could be about to lose the former Liverpool frontman permanently.

He has warned Owen that none of the big four have shown an interest in him this season, and urged Newcastle's record signing to repay the loyalty that his employers have shown him in the last two years.

"I'm telling Michael he has two choices," said Shepherd. "He either comes out and tells our fans who have taken him to their hearts that he is happy here - or I tell him that not one of the big four clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool, are interested in him. Because that's the case.

"The loyalty this club has shown him over the last two years when he had injury problems in his first season and has missed virtually all of this season deserves something in return."

Owen's future is likely to be one of the first topics facing Sam Allardyce when he is officially unveiled as Newcastle manager next week.

Shepherd is understood to be meeting Allardyce tomorrow night when the former Bolton boss returns from a holiday in Spain.

He will then make a formal approach to Bolton chairman Phil Gartside over the weekend and, provided compensation talks proceed without a hitch, Allardyce should be unveiled at a St James' Park press conference in the middle of next week.

The issue of compensation remains a thorny one - Bolton are likely to demand a seven-figure sum to cover the two years that Allardyce still had left on his contract when he left the Reebok Stadium last month - but Gartside has begun to make conciliatory noises regarding his former manager's future plans.

Allardyce has been invited to Bolton's final home game of the season on Sunday, with Gartside predicting that he would still receive a warm welcome from the Wanderers faithful.

"The invitation stands, but I haven't heard from him," said Gartside. "It was a gesture to say 'Come and take the applause for a fantastic era' because, whatever the circumstances of his leaving us, he deserves the chance to say goodbye properly.

"The offer is there, if he wants it. But, under the circumstances, with all the speculation surrounding other clubs, I can understand if he doesn't take up the offer.

"We'd have to look at the circumstances (of a possible move to Newcastle), to see if there's been anything untoward.

"But, in view of the fact that I have a relationship with Freddy Shepherd and a relationship with Sam, and I have had assurances from both of them - one, that Freddy Shepherd hasn't spoken to him, and two, that Sam was leaving for his own private reasons that weren't about him having another job lined up - it's just press speculation and nothing more than that at this stage."