SCUM

NEWCASTLE United, the club I love, is being run by the scum of the earth.

If Freddie Shepherd and Douglas Hall don't get out NOW, I am convinced both Kenny Dalglish and Alan Shearer will leave St James's Park.

I am also utterly certain that, as a result of the intolerable pressure these two men have created, the club WILL be relegated.

Hall and Shepherd have whored and drunk their way around the world and damaged this great club for ever.

Forget the prostitutes, drink and drug allegations - they have lied, failed to provide a proper apology and betrayed a city and its fans.

Even before the latest allegations against them were made, their solicitor was declaring that Douglas Hall "flatly denies ever taking drugs."

When that statement was made, new shockwaves went around parts of the city.

Instead of issuing an immediate apology, they stood behind the bike sheds like naughty boys having a fag, slagging off the teachers. Afterwards, they got a Glasgow-based public relations company to issue a statement on their behalf.

That's an absolute disgrace and I also believe that Sir John Hall will for ever regret issuing a parallel statement in which he gave his support to the two most ghastly men in the city - never mind the football club.

I feel deeply, deeply sorry for his wife, Lady May Hall - a glorious lady whose family name, club and city have been dragged through a sewer. Of all the people I can think of in the world, she deserves it least.

She must feel just like the little lady of nearly 90 who stopped me in the street and explained she'd supported this club since before the 1924 Cup Final. With tears in her eyes she said: "Malcolm, I've never felt as ashamed in my life as I do now."

She might also feel like another woman who stopped me, stared me in the eye and snarled: "If I ever see these two men walking the streets of this city, I will black their eyes."

That's the feeling up here, and if the general public is reacting like that, what on earth is going on in the minds of the manager and players?

Alan Shearer has been abused bitterly by a couple of drunks, simply for being a good professional.

Both boss Dalglish and Shearer are deeply committed family men and I can't believe that they haven't already been into their lawyer's office trying to find ways of quitting their contracts. My bet is that both will soon be gone - and nobody in the world will blame them.

Who wants to be associated with a club where the two blokes supposedly running it are untrustworthy lechers, one of whom has an alleged drug problem?

The arrogance of these men is a despicable comment on their appalling characters - who wants to be anywhere near them, let alone employed by them?

That's going to present the club with another very serious problem.

I can't believe there's a player in the world who will want to join Newcastle until these two are gone and forgotten.

I can imagine the conversations with their wives or girlfriends when the club makes an approach. I'm sure in these days of girl power, the ladies will be saying: "Join any team you like, but not Newcastle - you aren't going there."

How can anyone go out and perform knowing that the people they've been working for think they are dirt?

On Wednesday night, Newcastle needed nothing less than a win against Crystal Palace at St James's Park. Yet they were beaten by the bottom team and had just two shots on target.

That tells you everything about the way they must be feeling, and I am now certain the club will be relegated.

The fans turned up and, as ever, gave them magnificent support - there wasn't a taunt from anywhere.

Yet the players couldn't perform. They were being asked to carry an unbearable burden onto the pitch and it's going to get worse - even if they quit.

Seven of the club's games are away from home between now and the end of the season. Imagine what the home fans are going to be chanting!

Hall and Shepherd have put themselves in an utterly impossible position. They have wrecked their own lives and those of their families, club and employees.

They will wreck Newcastle United as a Premiership club. I simply can't see how the Magpies can survive.

A week has gone by and we still haven't had a proper apology or denial from either of them.

Shepherd went to court earlier in the week in a bid to stop more allegations being published - that's a disgrace at a time when they should be holding their hands in the air.

And the High Court Judge more or less told them that - half- laughing at them, half- rollocking them.

That tells you everything. These men are in an utterly untenable position, and as somebody once said: 'For God's sake, go - and go now!'

Their lives are a haven of filth and squalor - they can't be trusted and is it a surprise that they still can't see their way to doing the decent thing?

They sicken me and every right-minded person in this great city. They are not fit to run a paper round, never mind Newcastle United.

Were they the top men in any other major company they would have been forced to resign immediately.

Yet here they are, still clinging on to power. They can't be allowed to remain.

Their attitude has been a rerun of their behaviour after the club's disgraceful soap opera before, during and after the FA Cup ties against Stevenage.

Appalling comments were thrown in that little club's direction and the fans were utterly appalled.

Yet, just like now, they couldn't find the grace to apologise - they are a disgrace, unprofessional and an insult to their wonderful public.

They get absolutely everything wrong and then blame everybody else for their own indescribable behaviour.

I'm no saint. I've been a drinker - thankfully now dry - and I know that things can be said in drink that aren't meant.

But to get drunk and make these sorts of remarks defies any sort of reasonable excuse or explanation. All this gives the clearest possible insight into the characters of this horrible pair.

There is no trust left in either of them from players or supporters, so they should slink away and get on with pursuing whatever their favourite pastimes are in their horrible private lives.

IF Alan Shearer leaves, THEY will be responsible... IF Kenny Dalglish quits, THEY will be responsible... and IF the club is relegated THEY will be responsible.

For they have put everybody from cleaner and manager and beyond in a position where they can't do their jobs.

They disgust me to the pit of my stomach. I hope they quit this morning.

In the past, I have been abused by Freddie Shepherd for daring to offer the mildest criticism of the club. Yet I've known for months that things have been seriously wrong at St James's Park and now all the chickens are coming home to roost.

I couldn't be sadder that this has happened.

If they go to court and allow this sordid affair to drag on for weeks and months, the club may NEVER recover.

The damage they have done is incalculable and I loathe and despise them for it.

They are a couple of guttersnipes who deserve everything they get from here on in.

Copyright 1998 MGN LTD
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