Life was never dull under the chairman who always chased after the big time
FREDDY Shepherd lived the dream - a working-class Geordie lad who became a multi-millionaire and for a decade was chairman of Newcastle United. And there is no bigger deal than that.
Freddy was a colourful and controversial figure who endured a seesaw time in the crow’s nest of St James Park.
Highs and lows followed in quick succession. Having been vice-chairman to Sir John Hall during the birth of the Entertainers Shepherd was determined to carry on the bold adventure.
He had masterminded negotiations to bring home Alan Shearer for a world record £15m fee, which was a monumental success, but then on his own bought a spent force, Michael Owen, for £16m, almost bankrupting the club.
He sacked Sir Bobby Robson, which he himself admitted was akin to “shooting Bambi”, but on the other hand watched on proudly as United performed in the Champions League, beating the might of Barcelona on a night of dripping passion at the cathedral on the hill.
Oh, and he and Douglas Hall got caught up in the infamous Fake Sheikh sting which sparked the headline about our record-shattering No 9 being Mary Poppins.
One thing is for sure, life was never dull.
Far from being upset about the Mary Poppins jibe, Shearer loved Shepherd, who personally financed the statue of United’s record goalscorer even if it had to be erected outside the perimeter of St James – which was an absolute disgrace.
Shepherd always chased the big time rather than playing safe, which is why he bought Owen after Shearer, and why he appointed managers with such soaring profiles as Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit, and Bobby Robson through to his last, Sam Allardyce. More often than not, with Sir Bobby the stand-out exception, they fell short of the success he craved.
In later years Shepherd admitted his Owen blunder.
The England international joined the Magpies for a club record £16.8m after a poor stint at Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Plagued by injuries and lacking a yard in pace, Owen managed only 79 appearances over four seasons prompting his chairman to admit his folly. “The worst signing? Owen. It never worked out,” he said.
The £16m, £103,000-a-week deal in 2005 cleaned out Newcastle.
“Was the boat pushed out too far with that transfer? Yeah, I think so.”
I wrote a book during his time entitled United Behind The Headlines, for which I was given exclusive access to Freddy, the Halls, Freddie Fletcher, Kevin Keegan and Terry McDermott, which was more than enlightening.
One of the tales Shep told me was from those early days when he sat at the shoulder of Sir John and United captured the French flair of David Ginola, a wondrous purveyor of wing play.
“It was probably our easiest and smoothest transfer deal,” said Freddy. “At £2.5m he was a steal.
“David, his wife and agent flew over from Paris and we met them in the Gosforth Park Hotel. Surprisingly Ginola didn’t want to be part of the financial talks on his transfer. In fact he didn’t even want to be