Some Damning Stuff From Freddy Shepherd On Signing Michael Owen

As reported by the Chronicle, former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has given a damning interview to TalkSport, in which he has revealed that he thinks that he "never should have signed" Newcastle's record signing, Michael Owen.

When he was asked about the importance of business acumen when running a football club, Shepherd said:  “You’ve seen it 100 times in football, that you throw money at it and it simply doesn’t work,”

“Certainly I did - I spent more than £300m on transfers and it didn’t work."

He then went on to talk about arguably the most high-profile of all of his signings, Michael Owen, saying:  “Michael Owen was nearly £20m and I did get it wrong - I should never have signed him.

“But the crowd wanted him, the supporters wanted him, everyone did at the time.

“I was sort of swept along with the tide and I did it. I shouldn’t have done.”