Comments on: Newcastle United Raided By Police

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:07:55 +0000

Of course Shepard will get off with it, he is not stupid. I know we all like to think that he is just a fat moron who has permantly trying to remove the foot from his mouth, but you don’t become as rich as he is without actully having some brains about you.

By: michael

michael — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:17:14 +0000

Not sure if he owns shares but he’s regarded by the gers as a hero up here. He is constantly put in the scottish media as the voice of the previous sucess of scottish football (from his time at liverpool and rangers) and has definite links with Murray. He was the man who won 4 titles in a row and started the ten in a row before Walte Smith won the other six. I wouldn’t be suprised if he was one of the backers of the cosortium behind the Wolves takeover that never happened. Of course that is purely speculation, but Gers tend to keep their own close. Just look at Walter Smith and McCoist.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:44:28 +0000

Well said, Michael.

I do believe MacKay is heavily involved in all of this. Does Souness actually hold shares in Rangers FC? Smells fishy…

By: michael

michael — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:01:06 +0000

The links are clear if you know the background.

Willy MacKay – agent to Boumsong, Faye and Emre – is friendly with three key personnel. Harry Redknapp (Whom both own the same race horse), Graeme Souness (Former rangers man and fellow scot) and David Murray (Rangers chairman and multimillionaire who mysteriously bailed the gers out of bankruptency 18 months ago.) All 3 had major hands in the UK based transfers mentioned in the Stevens report. As for the Luque transfer and the chelski transfers, that will not be subjected to the same scrutiny by the british media.

I suspect the “raids” were simply a coordinated visit from the peacekeepers at all 3 locations implicated by the stevens report. To prevent those involved disposing of evidence.

Freddy Shepard is unlikely to be involved directly, however he appears to be involved because he has been taken for a fool on more than one occasion by Willie MacKay, no doubt introduced to him by Souness. This is explained by the fact that Fat Freddy has been sitting as chairman taking his audacious salary (reportedly 500,000-750,000 pounds a year) considering his actual lack of work. Couple this to the other huge salaries of Dougie Hall, and Ken Shepard (Of similar ilk). These men have milked the club through laziness, only shelling out enough for a “star” name when under pressure since the club was floated in 1997. Souness touched on this himself mentioning “tarting up the team” when the Stevens report was first released. It is also worth bearing in mind that since Sir John made us a plc, Freddy “backing his manager” has not cost him a penny from his own wallet.

Perhaps not deliberately but the Shepards and Halls (Sir John excepted) have been happy to suck the life out of a club financially rewarding mediocrity.

This current situation is probably a sting in order to gather info on Willy MacKay. However Shepards failures were likely legal, due in large part to greed and laziness. He is unlikely to face legal action i fear.

Fears that Big Sam will be involved are unlikey to be realised. The man was venerated after the Panorama incident. And in any case the charges against him were effectively caused by his son’s stupidity as he attempted to become an agent.

Thus Mike Ashley has saved us on two accounts. Firstly Fat Fred is likely to be questioned over his involvement, costing us precious time in the window. Something Sam talked about today. Secondly now the club is back in private ownership, he won’t make money unless we’re successful. Drive in the boardroom is as important on the field. Signing one good player a year (Owen, Martins, Woodgate) will not make us competetive at the top end.

I finally feel like we’re back in the days were we signed Fox, Barton, Les and Ginola. Putting a team together, something we never did under Shepard!

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:45:55 +0000

From nufc.com “According to eye witness reports in Jesmond Park West, one of the homes visited appears to be Freddy Shepherd’s residence – visited at 8.30am. This is still to be confirmed…. ”

You’re all right!

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:35:42 +0000

AB: I like it. The ultimate scapegoat. There’s an NZ band ‘Fat Freddy’s Drop’ great tunes…I feel the need to play some

By: Ged

Ged — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:30:56 +0000

….I can’t help but think of smoke and fires when it comes to these stories…….I think fat Fred has been in the driving seat at NUFC so long that he may have become over confident in his own impunity…..add a touch of self interest/greed/arrogance/ego and we have a big fat financial scandal in the making!!!!!

I worry that if found guilty of financial irregularities we will suffer much harsher treatment than West Ham especially as the Southern loving national press will certainly feed on this story for days/weeks to come………your club turns a corner and runs straight into a bloody brick wall!!!!!!!!!!!!

I for one am worried

By: AB

AB — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:18:27 +0000

Oh and I know its a tad convoluted but wouldn’t it be amusing for Ashley to have kept Shepherd in his Chairman role knowing all this might unfold? I mean what better excuse to sack someone for gross misconduct and thus waive the Â£2M he had written into his contract

Even if that wasn’t in his grand plan, I hope he reads this. We could put the Â£2M saved on top of the 2-3M earmarked for Queudrue and buy a proper left back!

By: AB

AB — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:10:13 +0000

I can’t believe you’ve not mentioned McKay in this article! He was the agent in the Boumsong (Rangers-Toon) and Faye (Pompey-Toon) deals, as well as being involved in the Aliou Cisse and Benjani Portsmouth transfers too. The guy is as bent as last season’s Charlton strikers!

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:07:14 +0000

Way off topic…official club release about Oba
http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1074021,00.html
I think we’re OK.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:02:08 +0000

Ed and Evans…I don’t think we should read too much into the words ‘raided’. These ‘raids’ are yes, at a moments notice, but often no more than whipping a few files away and the odd lap top.

Lets not over react (and I’m prepared to back down on this one…), I think the new owners, if they are as business savy as we seem to think will be fully aware of any potential club damaging situations. They have afterall spent a hell of a lot of money aquiring us.

One or two, probably old faces, might have fingers pointed at them but I beleive the CLUB will ride the storm. We did after all survive Dalglish, Gullit, Souness and Roeder, a hell of a storm.

Stay cheerful chaps,

Dave

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:38:02 +0000

I think that aslong as Sam and the new owners/board are in the clear we should be OK? We can weather any retrospective fines and I doubt that any corruption littigation would end up in the FA docking points…we are under a new regime after all.

One thing that could happen is that if Shepherd is the one, then his time at NUFC is even more limited than we all thought anyway.

Man I hope that this doesn’t affect our season, I was brimming with optimism and now….

By: Big Sam Fan

Big Sam Fan — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:43:17 +0000

i think its funny how the players involved with the investigation ahve all turned out to be naff, emre is the best of the four and thats saying ALOT!!!!
Freddy probably isnt to blame cos the guy hasnt got two brain cells between those big ears and Fat Old Woman features. Its Souness we should never of trusted that scouser. The guy should of been well overlooked when we got him!!!!
i never liked the guy and hope he is the man the police get along with those rip off agents. Also dragging Rangers and Portsmouth down will do nicely aswell!!!!!

By: Howie

Howie — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:37:41 +0000

Am glad Sam has ruled out Queudrue. Not good enough in my mind. I was worried about our previous managers in the transfer market but even though the Bolton game is only 26 days away I am fully confident we will have a quality backline for that game with 2 new full backs and another centre half in by then. Not sure if he wants another midfielder in though which I think is slightly worrying because we only really have Butt for the holding role.

By: Graham

Graham — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:24:34 +0000

t-g-w it seems like certain past members of the NUFC board need to sign a good lawyer – and quickly!