LONDON (AP) - Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd met with Sam Allardyce and reportedly offered the former Bolton manager control of the Magpies' team.

Shepherd dined with Allardyce in London on Friday and spent three hours talking to him, according to British papers including The Sun and The Guardian.

Allardyce resigned from Bolton two weeks ago, saying he would take time off to consider his future and that he did not have another job lined up.

"We had a good meeting and will continue discussions over the weekend," Shepherd was quoted as saying by The Sun on Saturday. "You don't wrap up something like this in two minutes."

The Guardian reported that Allardyce would likely sign a four-year contract to take charge of the northeast England club, which has not won a trophy since Joe Harvey coached it to the 1969 Fairs Cup - the precursor to the UEFA Cup. The last time it won the league title was in 1927.

Allardyce led Bolton for eight years, guiding the club into the Premier League and signing stars including World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff, Jay-Jay Okocha, Ivan Campo and Nicolas Anelka to establish it in the top half of the standings.

Newcastle has been mediocre since finishing second in the Premier League in 1996 and 1997 and has had three managers in the past three years.

Glenn Roeder resigned as manager last week with the club languishing in 13th with one game to play.