You're Fired !

[Jimbo 175]

New Toon chief to boot out Shepherd

By Paul Mccarthy

 

NEWCASTLE owner Mike Ashley will tomorrow sack the entire board and begin a new era at St James' Park.

 

The billionaire businessman, who took control of the club by buying the stakes owned by the families of Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall, will make a clean sweep and bring in his own team to run the show.

 

That means the end of the road for the current Newcastle United PLC board of directors of Freddy Shepherd, Bruce Shepherd, Douglas Hall, Tim Revill and Allison Antonopoulos, plus company secretary Russell Cushing.

 

The dramatic move will mark the end of an era that began in 1991, when Freddy Shepherd joined the Newcastle United board with John and Douglas Hall after a four-year takeover wrangle with Gordon McKeag.

 

Hall and Shepherd set about building a Newcastle dynasty and in 1997 they floated the club on the Stock Exchange with a value of £193million.

 

Sir John Hall quit but was named life-president of Newcastle United with Shepherd the chairman.

 

Toon fans endured a stormy time during which the club has had seven permanent managers - Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit, Sir Bobby Robson, Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder and now Sam Allardyce.

 

The closest they came to success was in 1996 when Keegan's flamboyant team surrendered a 12-point lead to hand the Premiership title to Manchester United.

 

The Shepherd reign has seen some sensational signings, including the formidable strike force of Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand - but also some shockers, including Jean-Alain Boumsong, Albert Luque and Marcelino.

 

Sports tycoon Ashley made his first move to control the club on May 23, when he bought the Halls' stake of 41.6 per cent for £55m and then launched a £133.1m formal takeover bid at 100p per share - a 14 per cent rise on the price at closing on the London Stock Exchange the day before.

 

Chairman Shepherd, who was in hospital at the time of the bid suffering from a punctured lung, said that he planned to fight the takeover and would not allow Ashley to get his hands on his 28.6 per cent.

 

But on June 7, after Ashley increased his share offer to 101p, Freddy Shepherd and Shepherd Offshore Services Ltd. agreed to sell their stake in Newcastle United for more than £37.5m.

 

It was announced at the time that Shepherd - who urged other shareholders to sell to Ashley - would remain as chairman.

 

But he will bow out having gone from a minor shareholder in the club to earning nearly £50m from salary, dividends and the sale of shares.

 

Confirmation came on June 15 that Ashley and St. James' Holdings Ltd - the company he set up specifically to purchase shares in the club - had acquired slightly more than 77 per cent of United.

 

This meant that Ashley could delist the company from the Stock Exchange and make it a private company again.

 

Once Ashley reaches 90 per cent ownership, under Stock Market rules the remaining 10 per cent of shares will have to be sold to him and he will achieve his ultimate aim of total ownership.

 

10 TURBULENT YEARS AT NEWCASTLE

 

..the managers

 

KENNY DALGLISH - Jan1997 to Aug 1998

 

RUUD GULLIT - Aug 1998 to Aug 1999

 

SIR BOBBY ROBSON - Sept 1999 to Aug 2004

 

GRAEME SOUNESS - Sept 2004 to Feb 2006

 

GLENN ROEDER - Feb 2006 to May 2007

 

SAM ALLARDYCE - May 2007 to present

 

..the best buys

 

GARY SPEED - £5.5m from Everton

 

NOLBERTO SOLANO - £1.5m from Aston Villa

 

JAMES MILNER - £3.6m from Leeds

 

OBAFEMI MARTINS - £10m from Inter Milan

 

JONATHAN WOODGATE - £9m from Leeds

 

..the worst buys

 

JEAN-ALAIN BOUMSONG - £8m from Rangers

 

ALBERT LUQUE - £9.5m from Deportivo La Coruna

 

HUGO VIANA - £8.5m from Sporting Lisbon

 

TITUS BRAMBLE - £5m from Ipswich

 

MARCELINO - £5m from Real Mallorca

[Geordie Boyo 24]

Git in! & get oout!

[luckyluke 2]

 

On yer bike fatty!

[Guest alex]