TOON owner Mike Ashley is set to appoint a top London lawyer to head up the boardroom revamp.
Christopher Mort will take over as deputy chairman at St James’ Park following the resignation of four of the current five-personboard, which is set to be announced today.
As revealed in the Chronicle on Saturday, billionaire Mike Ashley has been keen to oust the current board and bring in his own people after taking control of United.
Current deputy chairman Douglas Hall and non-executive directors Bruce Shepherd, Allison Antonopoulos and Timothy Revill were all expected to resign at a meeting today.
And following the boardroom shake up, Mr Mort will be brought in as deputy chairman, with Freddy Shepherd left as the last man standing from the current set up.
But while Mr Shepherd will keep the top job of chairman, Mr Mort is expected to wield significant power at St James’ Park.
The arrival of Mr Mort also puts a question mark over the future of chief operating officer Russell Cushing and finance controller Kenneth Slater.
The Chronicle understands another of Mr Ashley’s men will also be brought in to take up a place on the board.
Once the changes take place, Mr Ashley is expected to start splashing the millions he feels are necessary to transform Newcastle United into a leading force in world football.
Mr Mort, in his late 30s, is a long-time partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, one of the world’s “magic circle” law firms with more than 2,500 lawyers in 27 offices around the world.
He is co-head of Freshfield’s leisure sector group, overseeing their relationship with companies in the gaming, holidays, hotels, pubs and sports sectors.
He is also a long-term associate of sports mogul Mr Ashley – having advised him on the takeover of Newcastle United as well as the floating of Sports Direct on the Stock Exchange in February.
One city analyst said: “He has a reputation as a very strong personality who doesn’t take any prisoners in the business world.
“He is a very high-profile lawyer and he is a member of the legal magic circle.
“In the past he has advised on sales, takeovers and mergers of companies. But he has never run a football club before so it is an interesting situation.”
Meanwhile, Mr Ashley closed in on the magic 90% ownership mark allowing him to automatically snap up the remaining 10% of shares and make United a private company once again.
He made an announcement to the Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon saying he now owns 115,277,594 Newcastle United shares, or 86.61% of the club.
Mr Ashley is the UK’s 25th richest man with a personal fortune of £1.9billion. He has vowed to spend big to make Newcastle United one of the world’s great football clubs.
---------------------------------------------------------
Mort report
NEW Toon supremo Chris Mort has a long history of working on high profile sports and leisure deals.
But taking over the reigns at Newcastle United will be the first time he has been in charge of a football club.
Up to now much of his work has been in an advisory role in major takeovers and sales of companies.
He has been advising Mike Ashley up to now on his takeover of Newcastle United PLC.
His other main works have included:
# Working with UK private equity firm CVC Capital Partners on its high profile Formula One motor racing takeover in November 2005.
# Assisting Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct as well as BSkyB, Halfords and Umbro when they floated on the Stock Exchange to become PLCs.
# Advising record label giant EMI on its recent merger discussions with Warner Music.
# Helping to take South African public telecommunications firm Telkom into private hands which raised £300m for the South African government.
