Michael Owen has responded to the appointment of Alan Shearer as Newcastle United's manager by indicating that he will sign a contract to stay beyond this season as long as his former England team-mate remains in charge.

Shearer will take over as Newcastle's manager for the last eight games of this campaign and, although he said last night that he was there "for eight games and eight games only", it is widely expected he will accept the job on a permanent basis if he saves the club from relegation.

That is certainly the impression which has been given to Owen, who has already talked to his close friend about the challenge ahead. Owen, who will be a free agent in June, has always maintained he will not make a decision about whether to sign a new contract at Newcastle until the end of the season, although few have felt he intended to stay following four largely disappointing years at St James' Park.

"If Alan is going to be Newcastle's manager next season, that will change everything at the club," said a source close to Owen. "For Michael, Alan would be the ideal manager. He would galvanise the club and Michael would love to be a part of that. Newcastle have struggled for the last two seasons and that is a worry for a player like Michael who was used to playing regularly for England and in the Champions League when he signed for the club.

"Newcastle have offered him a contract but that was withdrawn at the start of the year when Michael said he wouldn't make a decision until the end of the season. But they have also said they will offer him a new one as soon as they are safe from relegation and Alan has made it clear that he sees Michael as being vital to his plans. There is a much better chance Michael will remain a Newcastle player because of Alan."

Although Newcastle's approach to Shearer has been a closely guarded secret it is understood that Owen had been told about it and even played his part in persuading his friend to accept the chance to take his first manager's job at the club he served with such distinction as a player for a decade after joining from Blackburn Rovers in 1996.

The pair have a long-standing relationship. Shearer took a teenaged Owen under his wing when the then Liverpool striker was brought into the England squad 11 years ago and was pivotal in persuading him to sign for Newcastle from Madrid in a club record £16.5m deal in the summer of 2005.

Although Owen offered his public backing to Chris Hughton last month, there was a growing feeling among Newcastle's senior players that the caretaker manager did not have the necessary kudos or authority to steer the club to safety. The team have won only one game since 21 December and are third from bottom of the Premier League, two points from safety.

Newcastle's owner, Mike Ashley, and his managing director, Derek Llambias, had initially refused to contemplate the possibility of appointing a new manager while Joe Kinnear, who was employed on an interim basis after Kevin Keegan left, recovered from heart surgery.

But that changed last week when it became apparent Kinnear was unlikely to be able to take charge of the team on a match day until May at the earliest, prompting Ashley's shock call for Shearer's help over the weekend. Kinnear remains at home in London as he recovers from a triple heart bypass operation that he underwent in February.

Shearer does not yet hold the pro-licence coaching qualification, supposedly mandatory for all top-tier managers, but that will prove no impediment as the similarly under-qualified Gareth Southgate, Paul Ince and Gianfranco Zola have been hired by Premier League clubs.