Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear has confirmed that Barry Ferguson is one of the men on his transfer window wishlist.

With Kinnear attempting to bolster his squad and stave off the threat of relegation, the Barclays Premier League club say they have inquired after the availability of the 30-year-old Rangers and Scotland captain.

"I have enquired about Ferguson, but we will wait and see what the outcome of that is," said Kinnear, who admitted he may have to sell before he can buy. "We are finding it difficult to bring certain players from clubs. Our bids haven't been accepted so far."

A Rangers spokesperson last night denied there had been an inquiry from Newcastle.

Ferguson, who broke his kneecap playing for Blackburn Rovers at St James's Park in 2003, has 18 months left on his contract at Ibrox Newcastle have also been linked with Ferguson's team-mate, the Algerian defender Madjid Bougherra, with reports indicating they are ready to table a bid of £4.5 million for him. Marseille are also keen on the player.

Meanwhile, Gordon Strachan last night blamed footballing reasons and the SPL's under-21 rule for his decision to extend Aiden McGeady's exile from the Celtic first team.

McGeady returned to first-team training last week after serving a two-week suspension after an outburst in the aftermath of the recent draw against Hearts, but Strachan could find no place for the 22-year-old in his 18-man squad against Dundee United, where his side surrendered a two-goal lead and were held to a 2-2 draw.

The move will do little to dampen speculation that McGeady has played his last game at Celtic, but the manager said his decision was motivated only by a desire to reward the players who had won the previous two matches, and to adhere to SPL rules, which insist on there being three under-21 players in each matchday squad.

"The reasons were," Strachan explained, "that we stayed faithful to the squad that had played so well in the last two games and that we have got this under-21 rule that we have complained consistently about since I came here but there are no changes to it."

McGeady watched the match from one of the executive boxes at Parkhead, but saw his teammates fail to stretch their lead at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League to ten points.

Georgios Samaras, the scorer of both Celtic goals, said afterwards: "Our performance in the last 30-35 minutes was really, really bad and we need to learn from our mistakes. When you are 1-0 up you expect that the other team and come and press you but I think we committed suicide. When you are 2-0 up and you can't get the three points it is unacceptable."