Freddy Shepherd interview: Former Newcastle chairman talks Keegan, Robson, Mike Ashley and more

In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Shepherd reveals the manager he never got on with, his thoughts on the new owners and why his final time at St. James' Park was for Rod Stewart

Freddie Shepherd with Bobby Robson during his presentation as Newcastle manager (Getty)

The telephone by the side of Freddy Shepherd’s hospital bed rang. The Newcastle United chairman was seriously ill with severe pneumonia and a collapsed lung, but he still took the call and listened.

“You what?” he replied.

Douglas Hall, his friend and fellow board member, had told him the family’s majority shareholding had been sold to Mike Ashley by Douglas’ father, Sir John.

Shepherd put down the telephone and rolled back in his bed. Hospitalised, he did not have the fight to take on Ashley, although his family held around 30 per cent of the club.

It was over then.

A 16-year rollercoaster ride that took Newcastle from oblivion to Europe’s richest banqueting table was finished.

‘Unfasten your seat belts please and leave the area.’

A dramatic chapter in a football club’s history had closed.

It is almost ten years since Shepherd’s phone rang in the Freeman Hospital, on the outskirts of Newcastle, near his family home, the Spring of 2007. If it felt chaotic before then, it was, incredibly, nothing of what would follow.

Shepherd had just appointed Sam Allardyce as manager. His final time at St James’ Park as the chairman (and second largest shareholder) was to watch Rod Stewart. That feels apt to. It was a rock star of a club.

“We were never dull!” he chuckles.

Two Premier League runners-up spots, two FA Cup finals, two FA Cup semi-finals, a UEFA Cup semi-final, a Charity Shield appearance, more than 49 trips around Europe, the very biggest names football had to offer in the home dugout, beating Barcelona, the Champions League, Toongate, a resignation and a return, the alleged debt he left Ashley, it is difficult to cram in just what happened at St James’ Park before Stewart sang Maggie May and Shepherd, unknown to him, was in the closing stages of his reign as Hall sought to sell.

Freddie Shepherd's final visit to St. James' Park was not to see Newcastle, but Rod Stewart (Getty)

“Did I miss it at first?” says Shepherd. “Yes. I did. I think anybody would, in any business, in any walk of life, when you've been there for 15 or 16 years. I was chairman for ten. At the time of the takeover I was ill in hospital. If I had of been well I would have put up more of a fight.

“Throughout the deal I never spoke to Ashley. It was all done through Kenneth (Shepherd, his son) and Bruce (his brother).

“I never spoke to Ashley. I never have. I don't know the guy but yeah, of course it was great sadness when I left. I certainly didn't need the money so I was in no hurry to sell.

“I’m not bragging. I didn't need to sell my shares. One of the main reasons we fell out with Ashley was because I wouldn’t sell him my shares for the same price as John (Hall) sold his (Shepherd sold for 1p per share more, worth an additional £380,000).

“I can understand why he got the hump. I would have done the same.”

The former Newcastle chairman is sitting at the head of a table in the boardroom at the offices of Shepherd Offshore when we talk, on the banks of the Tyne. Outside are giant pipelines, cranes and a workforce of around 3000. Behind that, Tyneside’s big river. The Shepherds’ business stretches for around two miles along it.

It is an eclectic picture inside. On a floor is the Spitting Image puppet of Paul Gascoigne. On a wall is the marine engineer’s uniform Shepherd wore for eight years when he was at sea, ‘I can’t get into it now mind!’ His father, who founded the business, insisted he had a profession.

He returned to the family business, of servicing vessels for oil rigs and storage of offshore equipment in his 20s. His father was best friends with John Hall. By 1991, Hall was involved in a fight to take control of Newcastle United, a club in the doldrums. The Shepherds were asked to combine forces in a bitter boardroom struggle. For £250,000 the path of Freddy Shepherd turned.

He was key in the move to bring Kevin Keegan out of retirement in 1992, to save Newcastle as they stared into Division Three. From there, along with Sir John, Hall’s son Douglas and Freddie Fletcher, a football team and a city took off.

Kevin Keegan was Shepherd's hire at Newcastle (Getty)

“It was an exciting time at Newcastle,” he adds. “I don't think anyone would deny that. What I concentrated on was top managers (he became chairman in 1997). If you look back at them, they all had a history. They weren't shrinking violets, none of them.

“Keegan, Dalglish, Gullit, Bobby Robson, Souness. You have to have that personality. They all knew Newcastle. These guys weren't stupid. They knew the pressure they were going to be under.

“It wasn't a case of ‘I’ll do this,’ or I’ll do that’. They knew immediately. They’d been in the business. They knew exactly what they were coming to. It wasn't a case of trying to con them into taking over!

“They all had it in them, that desire to be the first one to win a major trophy in so long and when you look at them they were all at the height of their careers. I went through seven of them and they were good guys.

“How big is the pressure on the manager of Newcastle United? Huge.”

They were World Cup winners, European Footballer’s of the Year, World Player’s of the Year. In total Osvaldo Ardiles, Keegan, Dalglish, Gullit, Robson, Souness and Glenn Roeder had won 65 major cups as players. None as manager, however, could break Newcastle’s run of not winning major silverware since 1969.

“I get on with the managers I sacked,” adds Shepherd. “The only one I didn't really get on with was Souness (who was sacked by letter), but Kevin, I get on with, he was there for the launch of the Alan Shearer statue. Same with Kenny. Then Ruud. The board had decided to get rid of him after the Sunderland defeat. He had Alan and Fergie (Duncan Ferguson) on the bench. It wasn't working, the players weren't happy and I phoned him up to come and see me.

Freddie Shepherd: “The only one I didn't really get on with was Souness" (Getty)

“His contract was £750,000-a-year and I was going to offer him the money, a year’s salary.

I said, ‘Come in, sit down.’

“Ruud said, ‘Before you say a word, I want to leave. Can I leave tomorrow on the flight back to Amsterdam. I don't want a penny.’

“I would have paid him £750,000 if he’d kept his mouth shut! Every time I see him I mention the 750!”

He lists reaching two FA Cup finals (lost to double-winning Arsenal and then treble-winning Manchester United) as his favourite memories, along with the European campaigns.

“What was going to the San Siro and the Nou Camp like as a Newcastle lad and a Newcastle fan. Oh, fantastic.”

The low point was more obvious, Toongate, in 1998, when, with Douglas, he was caught out in a sting by the News of the World and the fake Sheik, in Marbella, criticising the club’s supporter and the region’s women.

“It was very difficult,” he says. “It went on for three weeks. It was unbelievable. It was much ado about nothing, but I’m not bitter. It was two blokes having a chat over a beer letting their mouths go.” The pair resigned but were back in official control, six months later.

“The best signing? Shearer, it’s a no-brainer,” he adds. “The worst? Owen. It never worked out.” The £16 million, £103,000-a-week deal, in 2006, cleaned Newcastle out.

“Was the boat pushed out too far with that transfer? Yeah, I think so,” he says.

Ashley claimed he had to find a further £80 million to clear club debts (around £57 million of that was a mortgage on the rebuilt stadium) following the takeover, for which he did not undertake due diligence, once he had paid £133 million to buy Newcastle. The Halls made £55.3 million from the sale. The Shepherds around £38 million.

Shepherd on Ashley: "he’s realised it’s a much harder game than he thought it was” (Getty)

At the time Ashley had said: “I’m a big boy and I didn't cry.”

There is a final word of advice for the current owner, whose 10 years contain far greater disappointment and far fewer highs than his predecessor.

“They're up aren't they? Come on, how can they blow it?” says Shepherd.

“If you’re the man in charge and you have a heavyweight like Rafa Benitez, and I don't mean that weight wise, I think you have to take notice of him. Don’t let him use you, use him. That’s the best way I can describe him. Use his knowledge for the good of the club.

“They’ve struggled with managers beforehand. I think now, finally, they've got the right guy. If I was still chairman there I’d get really behind him and give him the full backing

“I respect Ashley, he has a fantastic business but maybe with Newcastle being relegated twice, he’s realised it’s a much harder game than he thought it was.”