LONDON (AFP) - Newcaste United have confirmed the appointment former manager Joe Kinnear as their new director of football, and said manager Alan Pardew and chief scout Graham Carr will report to him.

However, with the ink on his three-year contract yet to dry, Kinnear has risked alienating Newcastle fans, who questioned his reappointment and claimed that it will make Pardew's position untenable.

Kinnear, 66, said in a radio interview that the criticisms were unjustified and many of his detractors were "talking out of their backsides, a load of tosh".

"I'm not accepting it, as simple as that. I have certainly got more intelligence than them, that's a fact," he told talkSPORT late Monday.

Kinnear, whose time as Magpies boss was cut short in 2009 because of heart problems, claimed his role would be to find new players to improve a side that made the Europa League quarter-finals last season but finished a disappointing 16th in the English Premier League.

Kinnear claimed Pardew was "delighted" at his appointment, and said that he had an extensive list of contacts which would help his job.

"I've spent my whole life talking to (former Manchester United manager) Alex Ferguson, week in, week out. What would you do?" he went on.

"I can pick the phone up at any time of the day and speak to (Arsenal manager) Arsene Wenger, any manager in the league. In all the divisions."