As reigns at clubs go Freddy Shepherd’s time at Newcastle was ok. The football wasn’t bad, the managers were patchy, the chairman was terrible. Calling the women of Newcastle dogs has to go down as a mistake. Abusing Alan Shearer and Michael Owen while they were at the club, ditto. Newcastle fans were in general pleased to see the back of him. But what’s this? He’s on his way back into football? According to the Guardian, he really is.
Freddy Shepherd said yesterday he was poised to tie up a deal with “a northern club” early in the new year. The former Newcastle United chairman picked up more than £37m from his sale of stock in the club in June, with a seven-figure package also believed to have been agreed after he left the board later in the summer.
With that every fan of a Northern club has a sharp intake of breath, but are there any clues to who it could be?
Shepherd would not be drawn specifically on his reported interest in Leeds. But according to Keith Harris, whose company Seymour Pierce has become one of football’s most successful dealmakers, two Premier League and four Championship clubs are currently looking for buyers.
Although Harris refused to name clubs, he believes the Championship has become a more attractive market for investors. “The wealth differential has expanded between the Premier League and the Championship,”
It’s like an episode of Ms Marple, Championship, Northern. Who could it be? Sheffield Wednesday? Sheffield United? Burnley? Preston? It’s like Russian roulette.