Looks like something out of a cereal packet It isn’t very often that I venture off the highway of football to enter the arena of art criticism here on NUFC Blog, but this is one of those occaisions and I am actually more qualified. Having been a figurative artist, a designer and also an art dealer in a very modest sense, I hope I can give a reasonably informed opinion without getting too carried away.
As you might have guessed from the photo accompanying thus piece, my current musing has been inspired by the recent unveiling of the Alan Shearer sculpture. Named ‘Local Hero,’ it is the second by local self-taught sculptor, Tom Maley for Newcastle United. It follows Maley’s Bobby Robson tribute of 2012, though it was actually commissioned by former NUFC Chairman, Freddie Shepherd before that in 2007 at an alleged cost of around £250,000. There is almost certainly some kind of club politics behind the nine year delay in its unveiling but that is not what this story is about. (more…)
Before it all went wrong.There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Said Brutus in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and so it was with Newcastle United when they missed football’s greatest tide, leaving themselves bound in the shallows and miseries of mediocrity ever since.
To elaborate, in 1997-8, in the early stages of the biggest ever growth in football finances, Newcastle United were the fifth biggest football club in the world according to the Deloitte and Touche ‘Football Money League’ for that season. To make it seem even more unreal when we look at Newcastle United today, they were slightly ahead of Louis van Gaal and Bobby Robson’s Barcelona, who the Magpies had beaten 3-2 in the Champions League at St James’ Park that season. They also made the FA Cup final, after finishing as runners up in the Premier League for the second year in a row and signing the world’s most expensive player in the previous season. However the signs were already there, they also finished thirteenth in the League that season, the club lost some great players, Les Ferdinand, David Ginola, Faustino Asprilla and certainly not least, a 36year old Peter Beardsley. Kenny Dalglish was then sacked early into the next season and things were to get even worse under his successor, Ruud Gullit. (more…)
Not only does it save money, but it's also French!Mike Ashley bought Newcastle United to much fanfare in 2007 via St. James Holdings. Opting against doing the sensible thing and lodging a formal bid, he just went out and bought the stocks, forcing the then hospitalised Freddy Shepherd into advising shareholders to sell, sell, sell!
Thus came an end to Shepherd’s reign of terror over our club. He inherited a wonderful thing from Sir John Hall and promptly ran it, head first, into the ground. That was to end with our new chairman. A young man, famed throughout the great maze of Eldon Square for his cheap sportswear and throughout the business world as being reckless in his deals.
It was all roses for a while as Mike Ashley enjoyed a [many] pint [pints] with the fans in the Strawberry and even snubbed the directors box in favour of the Leazes End. Had Freddy Shepherd had done that, he’d have been hog tied, placed on a spit and spun over an open flame in the centre circle with his, rather ample, meat donated to third world areas of our great Earth such as Sunderland and Liverpool. (more…)
Hughton: Target of speculation.On the eve of Newcastle United’s home derby clash with the Mackems, Sunderland manager, Steve Bruce, ex Newcastle United chairman, Freddy Shepherd, and current club captain, Kevin Nolan have all come out in support of manager, Chris Hughton.
Hughton’s position as Newcastle manager has recently been called into question by journalists such as the People’s Alan Oliver and the Daily Hate Mail’s Colin Young, and bets on whether Hughton would be sacked were suspended at Ladbrokes recently. In response, the club issued a club statement after Wednesday’s League Cup defeat against Arsenal. The statement said:
“Chris is our manager and will remain our manager, and it is our intention to renegotiate his contract at the end of the year.”
Speaking in an interview for Talk Sport meanwhile, Freddy Shepherd said of Hughton’s time as the Magpies’ manager:(more…)
I wouldn't do itFormer Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd has blasted Ashley over his plans to sell the stadium naming rights.
Freddy said:
“I suppose nothing surprises me about the current regime, so news they are ready to sell the naming rights isn’t exactly a shock.
“I appreciate we are living in a commercial world, but there are some things money can’t buy.
“St James’ Park is one of the most famous stadia, not just in Europe but in the world. You can go anywhere and everyone knows St James’ Park is the home of Newcastle United. The two are synonymous.
“I just can’t imagine St James’ Park being called anything else. Whatever next? Why don’t they just go the whole hog and change the name of the club itself?
“Fans will be horrified, angry and upset about this. They’ve had to put up with a lot in recent months, but this is just another blow.”
Well, quite, but let’s not forget that Freddie Shepherd described Ashley as “an excellent custodian of Newcastle United’s heritage” when he sold his shares to him a few years ago. Not his best call eh? (more…)
