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Shepherd 'may buy Leeds United'


Ketsbaia
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;);):D<_<

 

Freddy Shepherd, the ousted chairman of Newcastle United, is about to make a sensational swoop to buy Leeds United from Ken Bates.

 

He has already had discussions with Bates, the owner of the ill-fated Yorkshire club, and takeover negotiations are believed to be at an advanced stage.

 

Shepherd and Bates were spotted dining together on Tyneside last week and independent sources have confirmed that Bates could be willing to sell — and that Shepherd is ready to buy.

 

Although Shepherd is still a regular visitor to St James' Park where he has a box, close associates have revealed that he has been missing the excitement of being involved in the game and recognises the potential of reinvigorating one of the biggest clubs in the country.

 

Only three months ago, Shepherd made more than £37.6million by selling his family's 28 per cent stake in Newcastle to billionaire Mike Ashley and he is thought to regard Leeds as the perfect opportunity to make a quick return to football.

 

Despite their relegation to Division Three and the 15-point penalty imposed for financial rule breaches, Leeds remain an attractive investment because of their pedigree, strong fan base and development potential around Elland Road and the training ground at Thorpe Arch.

 

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs last month dropped court action over the controversial sale of Leeds back to a company run by Bates after the former Chelsea chairman had put the club into administration with debts of £35m at the end of last season.

 

While tax chiefs may still seek to recoup a sizeable portion of the £8m they are owed, Bates is now effectively in control of a club which is virtually debt-free.

 

The sale process, to Shepherd or any other party, will nonetheless take some time.

 

First, the old football club company, Leeds United Association Football Club Ltd, will be taken from administration into liquidation, either by administrators KPMG or another firm.

 

The money received from Bates for the club will then be used to pay off non-football creditors at a reported rate of about 11p in the pound.

 

Once that hurdle is overcome, the club, now under the banner of Leeds United 2007 Ltd, a company in which Bates and allies Shaun Harvey and Mark Taylor are directors, will be able to re-apply for full FA membership.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1779

Edited by Skol
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might be the right man for the job TBH

 

he has a good grip on finance issues and kept us pretty much on the straight & narrow when everyone else was going crazy

 

he knows how the game works, he negotiated a few really good sponsorship deals, he has contacts with the money and the banks

 

he may be a little shifty but compared to Bates he's Mother Theresa - the FA and the Revenue would be a lot happier to see Fat Fred in charge I'm sure and maybe get off the clubs back

 

He hung on too long at SJP - if he'd gone 3 years ago there'd have been few complaints

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might be the right man for the job TBH

 

he has a good grip on finance issues and kept us pretty much on the straight & narrow when everyone else was going crazy

 

he knows how the game works, he negotiated a few really good sponsorship deals, he has contacts with the money and the banks

 

he may be a little shifty but compared to Bates he's Mother Theresa - the FA and the Revenue would be a lot happier to see Fat Fred in charge I'm sure and maybe get off the clubs back

 

He hung on too long at SJP - if he'd gone 3 years ago there'd have been few complaints

 

 

He might well be better than Bates.

 

But there's a lot of ground between better than Bates and anything like likely to get them back to the Premiership.

 

And I dunno about his business acumen either (he's a greedy feck, but that's not all it takes to succeed in buisness), he got away with quite a lot here, but that's because Newcastle is a cash machine, some of the things he did could have crippled a less well off club.

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This kind of puts paid to Shep's claim of just being a fan, rather he clearly gets off on being the boss with the associated limelight. I wouldn't want a Leeds fan running NUFC

 

I think he probably was a fan so far as that goes, but equally he clearly did get off on the "power" and "prestige" of such a position, which can be pretty clearly be seen not just from this but a lot of his decisions at Newcastle which were often far more about securing his own position than really doing what was best for the club in a longterm sense.

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With former Chairman Freddy Shepherd being linked to a possible new role at Leeds United, it's perhaps an appropriate time to remind ourselves of his "this laddie's not for turning" comments of December 2006:

 

"I'm Fred the fan first, chairman second. I first started watching Newcastle as a kid on the Gallowgate End and I'll continue watching until the day I die.

 

"It's my club - and I mean that not as a chairman - but in the way every fan says it's his club. A lot of chairmen are passing through clubs but let me make one thing crystal clear. That's not me. I could never do what Ken Bates or Peter Ridsdale did and join another club's board if I ever left Newcastle. No chance whatsoever. It's in my blood. You can get rid of the wife or the bank manager, but a Geordie can never get rid of Newcastle."

 

.com

Edited by ewerk
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With former Chairman Freddy Shepherd being linked to a possible new role at Leeds United, it's perhaps an appropriate time to remind ourselves of his "this laddie's not for turning" comments of December 2006:

 

"I'm Fred the fan first, chairman second. I first started watching Newcastle as a kid on the Gallowgate End and I'll continue watching until the day I die.

 

"It's my club - and I mean that not as a chairman - but in the way every fan says it's his club. A lot of chairmen are passing through clubs but let me make one thing crystal clear. That's not me. I could never do what Ken Bates or Peter Ridsdale did and join another club's board if I ever left Newcastle. No chance whatsoever. It's in my blood. You can get rid of the wife or the bank manager, but a Geordie can never get rid of Newcastle."

 

.com

 

;) Try getting out of that one you fat useless lard-arse....

 

(No doubt Leazes will have an answer for it though - will probably say we've editted Freddy's statement ;))

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