Newcastle United

Chairman
Freddy Shepherd
Manager
Glenn Roeder

Freddy Shepherd
Freddy Shepherd is a businessman and chairman of Newcastle United, best known for bringing Michael Owen to the club in 2005. In 1998, he became infamous for making disparaging comments about his own club’s supporters in a tabloid newspaper. Shepherd has also courted controversy among football fans by sacking manager Bobby Robson and replacing him with Graeme Souness and also for insisting that big clubs have no responsibility towards lower league clubs.Before achieving wide-spread recognition at Newcastle United, Shepherd had established his reputation as part-owner of a successful business. Along with his brother, Bruce, and business partner Neil McGurk, he jointly owns Shepherd Offshore, a marine and offshore services company based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Bruce, also an NUFC board member, is widely believed by many to be the driving force behind the family’s business success and financial strength through his role as managing director of the Shepherd Offshore business.

Shepherd was a Newcastle United shareholder in the 1980s, and became part of Sir John Hall’s consortium that took over the club in December 1990. By Shepherd’s own account, he became involved in the takeover when Sir John Hall, a family friend, called him and suggested he speak to Hall’s son, Douglas, about the club’s dire financial situation. The takeover was successful, and Shepherd was appointed to the board. In December 1996, Shepherd became chairman after Sir John Hall stepped down; Douglas Hall was appointed deputy chairman.
In August 2004, Shepherd fired manager Bobby Robson four games in to the new season. In the week before the sacking, Shepherd was quoted as saying that Robson would not be offered a new deal at the end of the season, and that Robson would be “in the Guinness Book of Records” if he were still the manager at 73 years old. It is unclear if Shepherd made his statement after consulting Robson, but Robson admits that he had an agreement with the club that he would retire at the end of the season. Robson also stresses that there was an agreement that he would not be sacked . Afterwards, Shepherd said that sacking Robson was “the hardest thing I have ever done in my life”, but then added “I didn’t want to be known as the man who shot Bambi.”

In his 2005 autobiography Sir Bobby Robson provides detailed criticism of Shepherd’s chairmanship, claiming that while manager he was denied information regarding the players’ contracts and transfer negotiations. He also criticised Shepherd and Douglas Hall, the club’s deputy chairman, for their focus only on the first team and St James’ Park, causing them to neglect less glamorous, although equally important, areas such as the training ground, youth development and talent scouts. The club’s training ground has been notorious in the past, due to its unkempt state, for causing injuries to first team players.