D-Day looms for Shepherd

Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd will discover just what he is up against when his Board holds talks with prospective owner Mike Ashley next week.

The Magpies hierarchy has requested an early meeting with the billionaire and his representatives in the wake of his major investment in the club on Wednesday.

Shepherd’s stake of around 29.8% makes him the major obstacle in Ashley’s way as he attempts to seal a £133.1million buy-out.

But the two parties are expected to enter into discussions within days as the future of the Tyneside club takes another step towards being resolved.

Newcastle plc confirmed it hoped to meet with Ashley’s St James’ Holdings Limited company early next week in a statement issued to the Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon.

It read: “The Board of Newcastle United has met to discuss the SJHL offer and has requested an early meeting with Mike Ashley and his team, and look forward to discussing the offer and his plans for Newcastle United in more detail.

“It is hoped that this meeting will take place next week.”

Ashley took the football world by surprise when he made his move on Wednesday to snap up a 41.6% stake in Newcastle at a cost of more than £55million.

His 100p-per-share offer has been extended to the club’s remaining shareholders, who must decide now whether to hand over full control to the founder of Sports Direct International.

Many of them own only a few shares, but Shepherd will hold the key to any takeover.

He was in hospital recovering from complications following a rib fracture when Ashley showed his hand by buying out the Hall family’s interest in the club former chairman Sir John Hall resurrected after winning a bitter boardroom battle in 1991.

Shepherd has steadfastly rebuffed previous overtures from the Jersey-based Belgravia Group and the St James’ Park Group, a consortium backed by US hedge fund Polygon.

However, whether Ashley, armed with a personal fortune estimated at £1.9billion, can persuade him to step aside – or alternatively, that his position is untenable – is the subject of the excited chatter currently reverberating around Tyneside.

Shepherd stands to rake in more than £39million if he sells the shares he controls, and that is something his most vociferous critics have been urging him to do in recent days to spark a new era for the Magpies.

He succeeded Sir John in December 1997 and has continued to plough millions into the club, although much of it in recent seasons has been badly spent to leave the coffers, if not bare, then very thinly lined for latest manager Sam Allardyce.