July 24 - Fat Freddy Goes to the Dogs

WHEN Pele coined the phrase ‘the beautiful game’ in his autobiography you can bet your life he wasn’t talking about the nefarious characters that football attracts in the boardroom.

Today in 1998 it was the turn of Freddie Shepherd to hit the headlines for the wrong reasons as he voted himself back onto the board at Newcastle United, only months after falling victim to one of the News of the World’s legendary “Fake Sheikh” stings.

We’ve already brought you the story of Sven falling for Mazher Mahmood’s 2006 scam, where the then-England manager told Mahmood what he really thought of his England charges, but he didn’t come out half as bad as fat Freddie and co-hort Douglas Hall.

Thinking that they were setting up a business deal with the wealthy Arab, the pair took him to a brothel in Marbella and proceeded to lay into Newcastle fans, women and their star player.

Labelling those lovely ladies of the Toon as “animals” was never a smart move as they proved they could bite back. The pair followed this up by mocking the Toon Army for spending extortionate amounts on merchandise and even Alan Shearer wasn’t spared as Shepherd called him the “Mary Poppins of football”.

Naturally, outrage ensued. The Newcastle Independent Supporters Association called for the pair’s heads and even Tony Banks, the Minister for Sport called for them to resign. After two weeks of heavy media pressure Shepherd and Hall finally fell on their swords and quit the club. The “Fake Sheikh” meanwhile won “Reporter of the Year” for the exposé.

But, with football being football, where the normal rules of common sense don’t apply, the pair remained the majority shareholders at the club, so voted themselves back onto the board. PLC chairman David Cassidy immediately resigned as chairman, six months after taking over, so Shepherd was back in the hotseat quicker than you can say “with King Kev back in charge we’re going to win the Champions League next season”.

As you really don’t want to look at Freddy Shepherd any longer than you have to here’s a clip of Mary Poppins himself doing what he does best. Marvel at his many celebrations and also have a gander at what we were up to this time last year here.

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