Magpies mourn exchairman
Alan Shearer led the tributes to former Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd following his death at the age of 76.
Shepherd engineered the £15million deal which took Shearer from Blackburn back to his native Newcastle in July 1996, and the former England striker remains grateful to this day that he did.
The Match of the Day pundit wrote on Twitter: “So sad to hear my great friend and former @NUFC chairman Freddy Shepherd has passed away. I owe him a huge debt for bringing me home. RIP.”
Businessman Shepherd spent 15 years as a director at St James’s Park, serving under Sir John Hall as vicechairman before eventually taking over the hot seat in his own right in 1997 and presiding over good times for Newcastle.
Current managing director Lee Charnley, who worked under Shepherd, said: “I was deeply saddened to learn of Freddy’s passing.
“He was an incredibly passionate supporter of Newcastle United and maintained that love for the club even after he stood down as chairman.
“During his time at the club, as both a director and chairman, he had a big part to play in the club’s modern-day history and was a driving force in the redevelopment of our stadium and expanding its capacity to more than 52,000.
“He had a huge passion not just for the club, but for the city and region.”
During Shepherd’s time at Newcastle, the club twice finished as Premier League runners-up, reached two FA Cup finals and enjoyed two Champions League campaigns.
Shepherd reluctantly sold his 28.01 per cent shareholding to current owner Mike Ashley in June 2007 after the sportswear magnate had already bought out the Hall family.