Shepherd: Betrayed by my friends

[Guest Knightrider]

What goes around comes around Freddy, you've betrayed thousands of people in your 10 years in control. I'm sure that £50m or so you've trousered from fans' pockets will help you get over your disappointment.

 

Utter fucking nonsense. The money he was paid from Ashley had fuck all to do with supporters.

 

Really cant wait for all the mis-directed anger to rear its head again in a different guise.

 

Aye, fair point, most of it was Ashley's money. Still the point stands.

[ChezGiven]

What goes around comes around Freddy, you've betrayed thousands of people in your 10 years in control. I'm sure that £50m or so you've trousered from fans' pockets will help you get over your disappointment.

 

Utter fucking nonsense. The money he was paid from Ashley had fuck all to do with supporters.

 

Really cant wait for all the mis-directed anger to rear its head again in a different guise.

 

Aye, fair point, most of it was Ashley's money. Still the point stands.

 

Shepherd made a few million out ofthe fans to be fair. Here is a fact of life though, people make money out of football. Its shocking i know.

 

Given this state of affairs in the world, would you rather a geordie made money out of the club or some yank who uses the term 'soccer'?

[thedudeabides]

Stabbed in the back.............shame it wasn't in the face.

[La Parka]

Stabbed in the back.............shame it wasn't in the face.

 

 

Bit harsh

[Guest Knightrider]

What goes around comes around Freddy, you've betrayed thousands of people in your 10 years in control. I'm sure that £50m or so you've trousered from fans' pockets will help you get over your disappointment.

 

Utter fucking nonsense. The money he was paid from Ashley had fuck all to do with supporters.

 

Really cant wait for all the mis-directed anger to rear its head again in a different guise.

 

Aye, fair point, most of it was Ashley's money. Still the point stands.

 

Shepherd made a few million out ofthe fans to be fair. Here is a fact of life though, people make money out of football. Its shocking i know.

 

Given this state of affairs in the world, would you rather a geordie made money out of the club or some yank who uses the term 'soccer'?

 

Can I not have a person regardless of their nationality making money from a successful football club? As I'd choose that tbh.

 

BTW I don't mind people making money from football clubs, I wouldn't have minded FS making the money he has if it wasn't for all the mismanagement.

 

Anyway by money I'm talking about selling a club warehouse to his brother on the cheap then renting it back using fans' money at double the rate.

 

Did you agree with that? I consider that ripping off fans myself.

[NE5]

What goes around comes around Freddy, you've betrayed thousands of people in your 10 years in control. I'm sure that £50m or so you've trousered from fans' pockets will help you get over your disappointment.

 

Utter fucking nonsense. The money he was paid from Ashley had fuck all to do with supporters.

 

Really cant wait for all the mis-directed anger to rear its head again in a different guise.

 

Aye, fair point, most of it was Ashley's money. Still the point stands.

 

Shepherd made a few million out ofthe fans to be fair. Here is a fact of life though, people make money out of football. Its shocking i know.

 

Given this state of affairs in the world, would you rather a geordie made money out of the club or some yank who uses the term 'soccer'?

 

Can I not have a person regardless of their nationality making money from a successful football club? As I'd choose that tbh.

 

BTW I don't mind people making money from football clubs, I wouldn't have minded FS making the money he has if it wasn't for all the mismanagement.

 

Anyway by money I'm talking about selling a club warehouse to his brother on the cheap then renting it back using fans' money at double the rate.

 

Did you agree with that? I consider that ripping off fans myself.

 

Jobs for the boys and looking after your own exists everywhere in the world mate. Sad, but true.

 

Most people on here would do exactly the same

 

As for the "mismanagement" quote, I know we would have loved to win the title, just like everyone else, and I know its been said before, the club hasn't been mismanaged. If it had been mismanaged, we would have had a last 10-15 years like the mackems, Leeds, Sheff Wed etc etc .. like the 30 years previous.

 

 

[OzzieMandias]

Most people on here would rip the fans off?

[NE5]

Most people on here would rip the fans off?

 

oh dear. Here he comes.

 

mackems.gif

[Geordie Boot Boy]

Shepherd previously made his intentions known about eventually taking the club back into private ownership. It's a matter of opinion but i think that's what his aim was, hence his gradual share buying upwards to the 30% mark.

 

Given the 'cloak & dagger' nature of how the whole Ashley buy-out occured - ie. the Halls selling up - and in conjuction with Shepherd's own ambitions, re- private ownership, he has every reason to be aggrieved.

 

IMO Shepherd's timetable,as far as hitting the 30% share and garnering the finance for the accompanying take-over, was probably at odds with the Halls' financial situation and their need to sell-up quickly. But nonetheless Shepherd should've been offered the 'first right of refusal' or at least a window of opportunity to make things happen sooner.

 

Poor form directed towards a long-time allie by the Halls, an allie who has been the public mouthpiece and the frontman to what has been a series of poor decisions in the boardroom where the Halls being the club's major shareholder were still the main power player. As the frontman he's been a convenient public flogging horse for the Halls, and violin playing aside he deserved better at the end imo.

 

Good post.

[Cronky]

Shepherd previously made his intentions known about eventually taking the club back into private ownership. It's a matter of opinion but i think that's what his aim was, hence his gradual share buying upwards to the 30% mark.

 

Given the 'cloak & dagger' nature of how the whole Ashley buy-out occured - ie. the Halls selling up - and in conjuction with Shepherd's own ambitions, re- private ownership, he has every reason to be aggrieved.

 

IMO Shepherd's timetable,as far as hitting the 30% share and garnering the finance for the accompanying take-over, was probably at odds with the Halls' financial situation and their need to sell-up quickly. But nonetheless Shepherd should've been offered the 'first right of refusal' or at least a window of opportunity to make things happen sooner.

 

Poor form directed towards a long-time allie by the Halls, an allie who has been the public mouthpiece and the frontman to what has been a series of poor decisions in the boardroom where the Halls being the club's major shareholder were still the main power player. As the frontman he's been a convenient public flogging horse for the Halls, and violin playing aside he deserved better at the end imo.

 

Good post.

 

Yes, Freddie wanted to take the club into his own private ownership, but the only way he could have done that was by a combination of plunging the club deeper into debt, and paying the Halls less than their shares were worth. That wouldn't have been right for the club, or fair on the Halls. But in order to try and get his own way, he declared that he wouldn't sell no matter what the offer - in other words, he was telling the Halls that if they wanted to sell, it would have to be to him. Totally selfish.

 

It's complete nonsense to say he was stabbed in the back. He was trying to shaft the Halls, and ended up getting shafted himself.

[Mr Logic]

Now he's gone I'd be very happy if he just shuts-up.      Betrayed by his friends,    Owens contract, etc. etc.

 

Wonder if Mort can get a tongue restraining order on him?

[Guest Express]

 

 

A lot of supporters would be falling over themselves for a chairman who handed out that much transfer money.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

Now he's gone I'd be very happy if he just shuts-up.      Betrayed by his friends,     Owens contract, etc. etc.

 

Wonder if Mort can get a tongue restraining order on him?

 

 

and I'm sure Shepherd at times had wished John Hall would have just shut the fuck up when he stepped down too, but he didnt either

[Geordie Boot Boy]

Yes, Freddie wanted to take the club into his own private ownership, but the only way he could have done that was by a combination of plunging the club deeper into debt, and paying the Halls less than their shares were worth. That wouldn't have been right for the club, or fair on the Halls. But in order to try and get his own way, he declared that he wouldn't sell no matter what the offer - in other words, he was telling the Halls that if they wanted to sell, it would have to be to him. Totally selfish.

 

It's complete nonsense to say he was stabbed in the back. He was trying to shaft the Halls, and ended up getting shafted himself.

 

I don't necessarily agree that he would have paid the Halls less than their shares were worth.  I'm not sure how you can say that with confidence.  He probably would have put the club further into debt though, yes.

 

He said that he wouldn't sell no matter what the offer.  That was probably just bravado and defiance.  You consider this an actual tactic to get the Halls to sell their shares to him at a cut price?  Shepherd would have to be even less bright than I thought to think that this would have any effect.

 

I genuinely don't think he tried to 'shaft' the Halls.  He might have tried to take advantage of a situation of them wanting to sell but who wouldn't? 

[NE5]

Now he's gone I'd be very happy if he just shuts-up.      Betrayed by his friends,     Owens contract, etc. etc.

 

Wonder if Mort can get a tongue restraining order on him?

 

 

and I'm sure Shepherd at times had wished John Hall would have just shut the fuck up when he stepped down too, but he didnt either

 

You mean when Sir John spouted on about the Geordie Nation, and Sporting Club of Newcastle, and team of all Geordie bollocks ?

 

I bet he did too. How embarrassing.

 

 

[Guest Knightrider]

What goes around comes around Freddy, you've betrayed thousands of people in your 10 years in control. I'm sure that £50m or so you've trousered from fans' pockets will help you get over your disappointment.

 

Utter fucking nonsense. The money he was paid from Ashley had fuck all to do with supporters.

 

Really cant wait for all the mis-directed anger to rear its head again in a different guise.

 

Aye, fair point, most of it was Ashley's money. Still the point stands.

 

Shepherd made a few million out ofthe fans to be fair. Here is a fact of life though, people make money out of football. Its shocking i know.

 

Given this state of affairs in the world, would you rather a geordie made money out of the club or some yank who uses the term 'soccer'?

 

Can I not have a person regardless of their nationality making money from a successful football club? As I'd choose that tbh.

 

BTW I don't mind people making money from football clubs, I wouldn't have minded FS making the money he has if it wasn't for all the mismanagement.

 

Anyway by money I'm talking about selling a club warehouse to his brother on the cheap then renting it back using fans' money at double the rate.

 

Did you agree with that? I consider that ripping off fans myself.

 

Jobs for the boys and looking after your own exists everywhere in the world mate. Sad, but true.

 

Most people on here would do exactly the same

 

 

 

I wouldn't and I don't think it's jobs for the boys, and even if it was, it still isn't acceptable. You questioned Souness helping out his mates at Rangers over the signing of Boumsong and used that against him, well same thing isn't it? I find the warehouse thing mismanagement of club funds.

[Lotus]

Now he's gone I'd be very happy if he just shuts-up.      Betrayed by his friends,     Owens contract, etc. etc.

 

Wonder if Mort can get a tongue restraining order on him?

 

 

and I'm sure Shepherd at times had wished John Hall would have just shut the f*** up when he stepped down too, but he didnt either

 

You mean when Sir John spouted on about the Geordie Nation, and Sporting Club of Newcastle, and team of all Geordie bollocks ?

 

I bet he did too. How embarrassing.

 

 

Didn't SJH say he thought 'Freddie probably needs a bit of help' with reference to someone else on the Board to advise on football matters?

I bet that made Freddie's day tbh. Especially coming from 'a mate.'

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

What goes around comes around Freddy, you've betrayed thousands of people in your 10 years in control. I'm sure that £50m or so you've trousered from fans' pockets will help you get over your disappointment.

 

Utter fucking nonsense. The money he was paid from Ashley had fuck all to do with supporters.

 

Really cant wait for all the mis-directed anger to rear its head again in a different guise.

 

Aye, fair point, most of it was Ashley's money. Still the point stands.

 

Shepherd made a few million out ofthe fans to be fair. Here is a fact of life though, people make money out of football. Its shocking i know.

 

Given this state of affairs in the world, would you rather a geordie made money out of the club or some yank who uses the term 'soccer'?

 

Can I not have a person regardless of their nationality making money from a successful football club? As I'd choose that tbh.

 

BTW I don't mind people making money from football clubs, I wouldn't have minded FS making the money he has if it wasn't for all the mismanagement.

 

Anyway by money I'm talking about selling a club warehouse to his brother on the cheap then renting it back using fans' money at double the rate.

 

Did you agree with that? I consider that ripping off fans myself.

 

Jobs for the boys and looking after your own exists everywhere in the world mate. Sad, but true.

 

Most people on here would do exactly the same

 

 

 

I wouldn't and I don't think it's jobs for the boys, and even if it was, it still isn't acceptable. You questioned Souness helping out his mates at Rangers over the signing of Boumsong and used that against him, well same thing isn't it? I find the warehouse thing mismanagement of club funds.

 

who is I.T. manager for Sports Direct?

[ChezGiven]

Ashley' brother is head of IT.

[UV]

 

Anyway by money I'm talking about selling a club warehouse to his brother on the cheap then renting it back using fans' money at double the rate.

 

 

I've seen this allegation before, but never saw the original evidence of it. Where was it sourced from? It just seems to me to be very strange that the other shareholders would allow something like this if they or the club were not benefiting from it.

[Cronky]

Yes, Freddie wanted to take the club into his own private ownership, but the only way he could have done that was by a combination of plunging the club deeper into debt, and paying the Halls less than their shares were worth. That wouldn't have been right for the club, or fair on the Halls. But in order to try and get his own way, he declared that he wouldn't sell no matter what the offer - in other words, he was telling the Halls that if they wanted to sell, it would have to be to him. Totally selfish.

 

It's complete nonsense to say he was stabbed in the back. He was trying to shaft the Halls, and ended up getting shafted himself.

 

I don't necessarily agree that he would have paid the Halls less than their shares were worth.  I'm not sure how you can say that with confidence.  He probably would have put the club further into debt though, yes.

 

He said that he wouldn't sell no matter what the offer.  That was probably just bravado and defiance.  You consider this an actual tactic to get the Halls to sell their shares to him at a cut price?  Shepherd would have to be even less bright than I thought to think that this would have any effect.

 

I genuinely don't think he tried to 'shaft' the Halls.  He might have tried to take advantage of a situation of them wanting to sell but who wouldn't? 

 

Point 1 - The Halls had made it clear they wanted to sell earlier on in the season, and that led to the negotiations with Belgravia and Polygon. Shepherd had ample time and opportunity to put an alternative offer together. The fact that he didn't means he couldn't match the offers the Halls were getting elsewhere.

 

Point 2 - Whether it was wise or not, Freddie was hoping that he had the Halls over a barrel. He thought that if he gave the message that he wouldn't sell no matter what, that would put off any alternative buyers, as they wouldn't be able to get the 75% without his co-operation. He thought that the Halls would then be forced to deal with him on his own terms, and it had every sign of working. Ashley's ability to pay cash and railroad things through changed all that.

 

Point 3 - Whether you call it shafting the Halls, or taking advantage of the position the Halls were in, business is business. He has no right to cry foul when he was being just as crafty himself.

[OzzieMandias]

 

Anyway by money I'm talking about selling a club warehouse to his brother on the cheap then renting it back using fans' money at double the rate.

 

 

I've seen this allegation before, but never saw the original evidence of it. Where was it sourced from? It just seems to me to be very strange that the other shareholders would allow something like this if they or the club were not benefiting from it.

 

It's no "allegation". It's a matter of public record. Why did the rest of the board allow it? Because they were all friends and relatives. Nothing illegal about ripping fans off this way, either.

 

Here:

 

It is worth recalling here a few of the lowlights from Mr Shepherd's own career. Let's go back eight years, when his company, Shepherd Offshore plc, sold a warehouse, quite legally it should be said, to his brother, Bruce, for £175,000. Newcastle then did a 17-year deal with Bruce Shepherd to store their merchandise in the warehouse at an annual rent of £150,000. That is £2.5 million.

 

(Article includes many other lowlights from Shepherd's career.)

 

http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,4284,1456030,00.html

 

 

[Guest Knightrider]

What goes around comes around Freddy, you've betrayed thousands of people in your 10 years in control. I'm sure that £50m or so you've trousered from fans' pockets will help you get over your disappointment.

 

Utter fucking nonsense. The money he was paid from Ashley had fuck all to do with supporters.

 

Really cant wait for all the mis-directed anger to rear its head again in a different guise.

 

Aye, fair point, most of it was Ashley's money. Still the point stands.

 

Shepherd made a few million out ofthe fans to be fair. Here is a fact of life though, people make money out of football. Its shocking i know.

 

Given this state of affairs in the world, would you rather a geordie made money out of the club or some yank who uses the term 'soccer'?

 

Can I not have a person regardless of their nationality making money from a successful football club? As I'd choose that tbh.

 

BTW I don't mind people making money from football clubs, I wouldn't have minded FS making the money he has if it wasn't for all the mismanagement.

 

Anyway by money I'm talking about selling a club warehouse to his brother on the cheap then renting it back using fans' money at double the rate.

 

Did you agree with that? I consider that ripping off fans myself.

 

Jobs for the boys and looking after your own exists everywhere in the world mate. Sad, but true.

 

Most people on here would do exactly the same

 

 

 

I wouldn't and I don't think it's jobs for the boys, and even if it was, it still isn't acceptable. You questioned Souness helping out his mates at Rangers over the signing of Boumsong and used that against him, well same thing isn't it? I find the warehouse thing mismanagement of club funds.

 

who is I.T. manager for Sports Direct?

 

I don't care about Sports Direct, I care about NUFC, when I see our Chairman selling a warehouse to his brother than using the club's money as rent at massively inflated prices, I care. It's wrong and a mismanagement of club money.

[UV]

 

Anyway by money I'm talking about selling a club warehouse to his brother on the cheap then renting it back using fans' money at double the rate.

 

 

I've seen this allegation before, but never saw the original evidence of it. Where was it sourced from? It just seems to me to be very strange that the other shareholders would allow something like this if they or the club were not benefiting from it.

 

It's no "allegation". It's a matter of public record. Why did the rest of the board allow it? Because they were all friends and relatives. Nothing illegal about ripping fans off this way, either.

 

Here:

 

It is worth recalling here a few of the lowlights from Mr Shepherd's own career. Let's go back eight years, when his company, Shepherd Offshore plc, sold a warehouse, quite legally it should be said, to his brother, Bruce, for £175,000. Newcastle then did a 17-year deal with Bruce Shepherd to store their merchandise in the warehouse at an annual rent of £150,000. That is £2.5 million.

 

(Article includes many other lowlights from Shepherd's career.)

 

http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,4284,1456030,00.html

 

 

 

That's a newspaper article. Where is the "public record" of this?

Even according to that article it wasn't a club owned warehouse which he sold to his brother on the cheap, it belonged to Shepherd Offshore.

Who's to say £150,000 isn't the going rate for the storage, and I'd assume distribution of stock?

 

 

Would you also be outraged if we were to ditch the Adidas kit sponsorship and replace it with a deal with, for example, Lonsdale?

[macbeth]

Couple of points

 

Shepherd knew for a long time that the Halls wanted out. In 2003 the club paid the Halls £4.5m to buy shares off them. If this wasn't a big warning sign of their intentions then I'm not sure what he needed. Maybe he needed them talking to anyone else who expressed an interest. It was so obvious that he even commented that it was affecting the day to day running of the club. He may have been surprised at the exact timing of the deal, but he is pushing it if he tries to suggest that he had no idea what they are thinking, or had no time to plan for it.

 

The warehouse did cost SMP which is Bruce Shepherd's company,  £175,000 to buy, and the payments made over the last 5 years, as reported by the club were

2006 £341,000

2005 £335,000

2004 £271,000

2003 £316,000

2002 £265,000

a total of over £1.5m

 

Whether the there is any moral wrong-doing is clearly up to each individual to decide on. The question that should be raised is why Bruce Shepherd could not bring his obvious money-making skills to bear as fully at NUFC as he could at SMP. Lets hope Ashley can do better at transferring his skills to the club               

 

There is public record that John Hall (and hsi wife) lent the club money when they were in a financial mess. This is why there is a warmth from most people towards him and where the "they deserve their return" comments come from. Conversely most people don't see Douglas Hall, or Freddie or Bruce Shepherd actually financially contributing, just taking.