biggs Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 From Brian McNally, writing in the Sunday Mirror: Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd has turned his sights on major shareholder Sir John Hall after successfully telling takeover suitors Belgravia to “put up or shut up.” Shepherd’s resolute resistance to the secretive Jersey-based Belgravia Group saw them end their interest in a proposed £150 million takeover on Friday and now he has thrown down a similar challenge to his former ally Hall. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror, Shepherd, who has a 28 per cent stake, has urged Hall, whose family control 41.6 per cent of the shares, to make his future plans clear to supporters and shareholders of the Premiership club. Hall has failed in attempts to sell the club to Belgravia and American hedge fund Polygon and Shepherd believes that the takeover uncertainty is making it impossible for him to run the club properly. And Shepherd insists that Hall must go public on his position to prevent the crisis undermining manager Glenn Roeder and his players and costing the club money. Shepherd said: “Sir John Hall has to decide what his role in the club is. The future of this club is in his hands. He has to decide whether he wants to stick or sell. “For the sake of the club, the shareholders and supporters Sir John must decide quickly what he is going to do and make his position public. "He is perfectly entitled to sell his shares to whom ever he wants. But if he wants to sell then he needs to say so and if, he doesn’t, good, let us all march on together. “The uncertainty is making it hard for me to run the club. Sir John identified two potential buyers and it hasn’t worked. How many more potential buyers has the club cope with?” Shepherd blames the offer period uncertainty for Newcastle’s poor season and lack of transfer activity. He added: “The offer period has been damaging and difficult for everyone at the club. "Everyone at the club from me as chairman down to the manager Glenn Roeder, the coaches, the players and our administrative staff have been left wondering whether they would have jobs when it was all over. “If he lives to be 100 is Sir John going to keep trying to sell these shares. Are we going to have this uncertainty for ever? All I am asking of him is a clear decision. “I want him to be honest with me and the supporters. The club simply can’t go on dealing with proposed buyers knocking on the door who turn out to be time-wasters. It is me who has to run the club on a day-to-day basis and this situation isn’t conducive to running a huge Premiership club. “It has compromised our long-term planning. How can you prepare for the future with all this going on? It’s impossible. “Our fans read that Belgravia were supposedly going to put £24 million in for new players in January. That conjecture created problems by raising fans expectations and causes clubs to raise their prices when we ask them about players. “When you are a plc under offer there are certain rules that must be adhered to that means you must be very careful on expenditure. That has affected our ability to compete in the transfer market this season. “It has also got in the way of progress in the partnership for our casino project with MGM. That is a £400-£500 million development and could bring 2,500 jobs to Tyneside.” Shepherd insists that he would consider buying Hall’s shares if the price is right. He explained: “I have shown my commitment to Newcastle by buying shares in the club and I have never sold a share. I would consider buying the Hall shares at the correct price. “I can’t prevent Sir John selling the shares he controls, but if the club I want it to be to the right people. As long as I am here I am going to do my best for the club. “But at the same time I’m not going to let any would-be buyer take the Mickey out of this club or its supporters by raising false expectations.” Freddy Shepherd has issued a dramatic “back us or bail out” ultimatum to the club’s major shareholder Sir John Hall. In an exclusive Sunday Mirror interview Shepherd blames the constant takeover speculation surrounding aborted takeover bids from Jersey-based Belgravia and American hedge fund Polygon as a major contributory factor to Newcastle’s problems this season. Shepherd, who owns 28 per cent of the club, has publicly challenged major shareholder Sir John Hall, actively trying to sell the 41.6 per cent stake he controls, to come clean on his future plans. The Toon chairman insists he would consider buying Hall’s shares at “the correct price.” Hall has made an estimated £36 million from shares he paid around £3.5million to purchase and should collect more than double that amount when he finally sells out. Shepherd said: “We can’t allow this uncertainty and speculation to continue for another 12 months. The business must go forward whether it is with me, Sir John or someone else. “Sir John Hall must let the club and it supporters know what his plan is. It must be sorted. I will consider buying at the correct price. “I am having to constantly act as a fireman rather than as a football club chairman. This is not a nuts and bolts factory that just affects the employees. This is major football club that affects the whole community. “I am not prepared to put up with it. Sir John must explain his intentions. “There is a limit to how many offers can be made for the club. The uncertainty is undermining the credibility of the club as well as proving a major distraction and a financial cost. ” On hearing of Belgravia’s pull-out on Friday, Sir John Hall’s said: "I do not know what I will do now. I will need to have a think before I can make any further comment." It looks like we may have a fat controller if he gets his way unless he has rubbed john hall up the wrong way and sir john will not sell his shares to him etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Fish and chip wrapper, bonny lad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Older than the hills, and the hills are incontinent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggs Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Older than the hills, and the hills are incontinent. STILL RELEVENT ru lot happy at the apparent that the fat one might be here for the long term with no way out . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howaythelads Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Decent article, but it seems SJH is beyond criticism. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thommo78 Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 What ever you think about FFS taking control of this club....he has a very valid and relevant point. Whatever you think about him personally from a business perspective he is spot on in this article and cleverly forcing the halls hand indirectly through the media. He certainly know how to manipulate situation! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzieMandias Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 “Our fans read that Belgravia were supposedly going to put £24 million in for new players in January. That conjecture created problems by raising fans expectations and causes clubs to raise their prices when we ask them about players. " So we know that whatever we've got to spend this window, it's a good deal less than £24 million. The bit about other clubs raising their prices is the sheerest nonsense, however. It's hardly going to escape anyone's attention that we haven't been bought out and don't have a fat transfer fund. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzieMandias Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 What I want to know is, why didn't the Belgravia or Polygon deals go through? If they didn't go through because Fat Fred wouldn't sell his holding, then all of the above is pretty damn cheeky. If they didn't go through because Hall chickened out of selling his portion, then I suppose it's fair enough. But the impression you get is that Fat Fred does indeed want it all, and presumably wants it all before next season's huge hike in TV revenue. That won't improve our position vis-a-vis other clubs, because other clubs get a huge hike in TV revenue too. But it will produce a lot more cash in real terms, and thus lots more than can be creamed off in dividends and the like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I thought this topic was going to be about the new forum. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliMag Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I look forward to a response from the Halls. FFS has had his fare share telling his side of the story. I hope the Halls and maybe even the prospective buyers give us a better idea of what is going on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 What I want to know is, why didn't the Belgravia or Polygon deals go through? If they didn't go through because Fat Fred wouldn't sell his holding, then all of the above is pretty damn cheeky. If they didn't go through because Hall chickened out of selling his portion, then I suppose it's fair enough. But the impression you get is that Fat Fred does indeed want it all, and presumably wants it all before next season's huge hike in TV revenue. That won't improve our position vis-a-vis other clubs, because other clubs get a huge hike in TV revenue too. But it will produce a lot more cash in real terms, and thus lots more than can be creamed off in dividends and the like. you'd think it wouldn't fall through because of fat fred being unwilling as belgravia or polygon would still have been majority shareholders after buying up cameron/halls shares and in a position to kick freds arse about a bit,like glazer did at man utd to squeeze out those who didn't want to play ball Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggs Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 what worrys me more than anything is the debt of £80 million that we allegedly have that has scared off polygon and belgravia to a larger extent ,most of this debt is apparently the club taking a loan out based on future season ticket sales which unless things turn around on the pitch are going to have a big impact in the future. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzieMandias Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 What I want to know is, why didn't the Belgravia or Polygon deals go through? If they didn't go through because Fat Fred wouldn't sell his holding, then all of the above is pretty damn cheeky. If they didn't go through because Hall chickened out of selling his portion, then I suppose it's fair enough. But the impression you get is that Fat Fred does indeed want it all, and presumably wants it all before next season's huge hike in TV revenue. That won't improve our position vis-a-vis other clubs, because other clubs get a huge hike in TV revenue too. But it will produce a lot more cash in real terms, and thus lots more than can be creamed off in dividends and the like. you'd think it wouldn't fall through because of fat fred being unwilling as belgravia or polygon would still have been majority shareholders after buying up cameron/halls shares and in a position to kick freds arse about a bit,like glazer did at man utd to squeeze out those who didn't want to play ball Nah, it wouldn't make any sense for them to buy some of the club. Polygon or Belgravia would want it all too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzieMandias Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 what worrys me more than anything is the debt of £80 million that we allegedly have that has scared off polygon and belgravia to a larger extent ,most of this debt is apparently the club taking a loan out based on future season ticket sales which unless things turn around on the pitch are going to have a big impact in the future. Are you talking about the loan which was taken out to redevelop the ground? Or has there been some new loan also secured against future season ticket sales? And is there a link to something which suggests this was the reason why Polygon and/or Belgravia backed away? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johan Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Might be the the most reasonable things I have heard from the fat ones mouth to be honest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggs Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 what worrys me more than anything is the debt of £80 million that we allegedly have that has scared off polygon and belgravia to a larger extent ,most of this debt is apparently the club taking a loan out based on future season ticket sales which unless things turn around on the pitch are going to have a big impact in the future. Are you talking about the loan which was taken out to redevelop the ground? Or has there been some new loan also secured against future season ticket sales? And is there a link to something which suggests this was the reason why Polygon and/or Belgravia backed away? yes i believe the loan was taken out to redevelop the ground secured against future season ticket sales and the article was in the main part of the chronicle not a anal oliver toon jizz fest Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovejoy Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 he i sbang on in my opinion. all of this talk isnt doing us any good at all. it would appear that sir john is willing to sell to absoloutely anyone Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 what worrys me more than anything is the debt of £80 million that we allegedly have that has scared off polygon and belgravia to a larger extent ,most of this debt is apparently the club taking a loan out based on future season ticket sales which unless things turn around on the pitch are going to have a big impact in the future. it was but wasn't dependent on sell out crowds Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I hope the lot of them go bankrupt. Death is too good, as someone in their family would benefit from it. Bankruptcy is the way forward for these ugly fat old cunts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I hope the lot of them go bankrupt. Death is too good, as someone in their family would benefit from it. Bankruptcy is the way forward for these ugly fat old cunts. are you taking this a tad too serious......without really having a clue whats going on aswell Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I hope the lot of them go bankrupt. Death is too good, as someone in their family would benefit from it. Bankruptcy is the way forward for these ugly fat old cunts. are you taking this a tad too serious......without really having a clue whats going on aswell I know wahts going on, these people are cunts, they dont deserve to breath tbh. Am pissed as well, so fuking what.? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I hope the lot of them go bankrupt. Death is too good, as someone in their family would benefit from it. Bankruptcy is the way forward for these ugly fat old cunts. are you taking this a tad too serious......without really having a clue whats going on aswell I know wahts going on, these people are cunts, they dont deserve to breath tbh. Am pissed as well, so fuking what.? gitaway Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I hope the lot of them go bankrupt. Death is too good, as someone in their family would benefit from it. Bankruptcy is the way forward for these ugly fat old cunts. are you taking this a tad too serious......without really having a clue whats going on aswell I know wahts going on, these people are cunts, they dont deserve to breath tbh. Am pissed as well, so fuking what.? gitaway Its about ad irrelevant as how much the cunts are halls are. They wantmoney, they make money, they are cunts. Sue me. cunts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Aye, fuck all successful people! Bastards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 "Just an ally creeper, light on his feet." Freddy, oh freedy is at his games. la l al alaa Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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