Should Shepherd Get Out Of Toon?

The club have knocked back rising Stock Exchange speculation that a whopping £227m bid for the club had been accepted.

The reports said extensive secret talks have led to a joint bid by American financiers Polygon and the United Bank of Switzerland, which has been accepted unanimously by the club's board.

The deal could mean a major payday for the current board.

Under-fire chairman Freddy Shepherd would receive £20m for his shares while major shareholders, the Hall family will reportedly walk away with around £48m from the deal.

And Glenn Roeder is expected to stay on as manager, with a transfer war chest of £20m at his disposal as the new owners strengthen their investments.

The investment follows a spate of buy-outs of big clubs as shrewd foreign operators size up the global potential for the Premiership brand.

Roman Abramovich led the way at Chelsea. Then the Glazer family bought Manchester United two years ago. Earlier this season Randy Lerner bought Aston Villa and West Ham was snapped up by an Icelandic consortium. Last week Liverpool was linked with a big-money Arab bid.

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