The 66-year-old has signed a three-year contract and will report directly to the club's board as the senior executive in charge of all football-related matters, with manager Alan Pardew and chief scout Graham Carr working under him.
Managing director Derek Llambias: "The Board is pleased to welcome Joe back to the club.
"Joe has many years of experience working within the game, and this experience will be of great benefit to the club in achieving our objectives over the coming seasons."
Significantly, it contained no comments from Pardew, the man seemingly most directly affected by the Irishman's installation.
He was appointed, initially as interim manager, in September 2008 following Kevin Keegan's departure, and was in charge for 26 games - he won five of them - until health problems ended his reign.
Newcastle were relegated at the end of that season with Alan Shearer having been drafted in for what was a desperate and ultimately vain attempt to drag them out of trouble, and Kinnear has since absolved himself of any responsibility for that disaster.
His cameo on Tyneside was a DISASTER, and included a foul-mouthed tirade aimed at journalists, referring to midfielder Charles N'Zogbia as 'Charles Insomnia' and a series of outlandish claims about transfer targets who never ended up in a black and white shirt.
He took to the airwaves on Sunday evening to reveal his appointment after holding talks with owner Mike Ashley, and with the club not commenting on Monday, filled the void himself with a series of outspoken interviews.
But one of Kinnear's first tasks will be to attempt to win over the club's fans, who have been distinctly underwhelmed by the news.
The former Wimbledon manager did not help himself when asked about the criticism by talkSPORT on Monday night.
He said: "I don't know what angle they've got, if they want to sit down and argue with me...
"Some are 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."
WE TELL IT AS IT IS - NO BULLSHIT!
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