Hall's End Newcastle Relationship

The Sports Direct international tycoon has installed Chris Mort and commercial manager Steve Hayward in the boardroom at St James' Park following a clearout.

As expected, only chairman Freddy Shepherd, remains in post following a major shake-up.

Mort (dubbed the "new Freddy Fletcher") will look at all aspects of the club, including its existing infrastructure, contractual arrangements, staff and financial position in his role as deputy chairman.

We can all remember how Freddy Fletcher turned the club around when he was drafted in from Ibrox by Sir John Hall.

Mort: "I am delighted to take on this role. Newcastle United is a fantastic football club with a wonderful set of supporters.

"My first task is to lead a review of all aspects of the club and I look forward to starting that work immediately."

Hayward has experience in the sport and leisure fields, and also managed the soft drinks giant Coca-Cola's UK sponsorship programme, which saw him work with all the major participants in English football.

Mort and Hayward were appointed as directors as the club confirmed previous deputy chairman Douglas Hall, Allison Antonopoulos, Bruce Shepherd and Tim Revill had resigned.

The departures of former chairman Sir John Hall's children ends the family's long association with the Magpies.

I'm sure Sir John will long be remembered for transforming Newcastle United from a club heading to the (old) Third Division into a European force. Sadly, the same cannot be said of Doug, who will go down in Newcastle history for other reasons.

NEWCASTLE UTD MAD ARTICLE BEFORE THE TAKE-OVER (April 2007)

According to our sources in Spain, Sir John Hall was not a happy man when Freddy Shepherd doubted his loyalty to the Newcastle cause back in January, and so refused to sell him his shares so Shepherd could have full control.

As we all know, Freddy tends to put his size 16's in his mouth most times he opens his gob ... and Hall was furious when Shepherd went public saying "I don't know what the Halls are doing offering to sell their shares". And what was supposed to be talk behind closed doors suddenly came out into the open.

Shepherd said he was willing to buy Hall's share in Newcastle United to take full control of the club, but Sir John was obviously out to scupper the chairman's plans. So much so he was happy to take what Mike Ashley offered, in order to put Shepherd on the back foot.

Rumour has it Sir John thinks the current chairman has "£" signs in his eyes and was hoping to over-price the club to make a tidy sum to the highest bidder, rather than have the welfare of Newcastle United at heart.

Today Shepherd, as expected, has warned billionaire businessman Mike Ashley he will have to splash "a whole lot more" cash if he is to complete his takeover of the club.

Ashley yesterday bought 41.6% of the club's shares from Sir John and family and has offered the same price of 100p per share to Shepherd - who owns 29.8% - and the rest of the Magpies' shareholders.

Shepherd last week claimed that the St James' Park outfit was "impossible" to sell, but now that the Hall has found a willing buyer, he will find his resolve to stay at the club tested to the limit.

But Shepherd sees "a big earner" and you can picture him rubbing his hands with glee.

Shepherd: "There is nothing Mike Ashley can do with this club unless he gets a 75% stake. He can't take full control, he can't change resolutions or the club's articles of association.

"He has spent £50m but he will have to spend a whole lot more, as he must now make an offer not just for my shares but the shares held by all the other shareholders."

The news also came as a surprise to manager Sam Allardyce, who has been at the helm only a matter of days after succeeding Glenn Roeder.

Allardyce: "I'm as shocked about this as chairman Freddy Shepherd. I didn't know this was going to happen. I will be talking to the chairman to see what it all means and we'll go from here.

"I don't know anything about the person hoping to take over. But he must want good things for Newcastle if he's spending such an amount on the club."