Shepherd Hits Out at Ashley Over 'ridiculous' Newcastle Claims

Mike Ashley's claims that he inherited a financial mess at Newcastle United and possibly saved the club from going bust have been rubbished by Freddy Shepherd. Newcastle's former chairman last night defended his regime and said he had left all departments in good shape.

Ashley is seeking to sell the club a year after buying out the Hall family along with Shepherd, who had a smaller stake. He claimed on Sunday that without him Newcastle "might not have survived". But Shepherd said the sports retailer, who had opted against due diligence, had purchased a club equipped for prosperity.

"It's absolutely ridiculous; everything was covered," Shepherd said. "But what Ashley didn't realize was that he had to pay off the mortgage on the stadium. If the Halls lost control, that debt had to be paid immediately. The largest part of the debt was the stadium and I think he had to pay around £57m.

"To build that stadium now would cost £450m. Newcastle were in good shape when I left. There was no way the club was going anywhere but upwards."

Nevertheless Newcastle still owe about £27m in installments on transfer fees negotiated under Shepherd. "Yes, they are still paying off the tail end of Owen's deal and possibly one or two others, but we're not the first to have done that," he said. "It's not unusual. We'll stand by our record, the Halls and the Shepherds. We built a great stadium, we built a great training ground. We left all the tools there and a good set of players. Everything was there. We've nothing to be ashamed of.

"We were always looking at ways to expand the business and increase turnover. I make no apology for the fact that we were in the Champions League twice and Europe more times than I can recall."

Shepherd believes Newcastle to be worth "about £230m". He said: "Ashley would get a buyer at that price. That would prove he does love the club and is doing right by it rather than himself." But Ashley is expected to put the asking price at about £300m.

Shepherd said he was considering offers from two consortium's to become involved again. "A lot of people can buy football clubs. It has now been proved not a lot of people can run them." And he said Ashley, while seeking a buyer, should reinstate Kevin Keegan as manager.