The man who brought Alan Shearer home to Tyneside has died aged 75 — and though opinions on him were split until the end, Freddy Shepherd was being remembered on Tuesday for the nirvana of a golden summer 21 years ago.
Newcastle will always thank him for that.
It was July 28, 1996 when Newcastle United smashed all transfer records — domestic, European, global — to sign Shearer from Blackburn Rovers for £15million, funded by Shepherd and co-owner Sir John Hall.
The fee was £1.