Freddy hitz out at bets on boss
By Mark Buckingham , 19 Feb 2006
Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd insists there are no plans to ask Ottmar Hitzfeld to be the club's new manager.
Shepherd is undertaking the quest to find Graeme Souness' successor on Tyneside, with Glenn Roeder currently in caretaker charge.
The likes of Martin O'Neill, Sam Allardyce and Paul Jewell have been linked with the role, while Hitzfeld's name was thrown into the fray earlier in the week.
Reports had claimed that the former Bayern Munich coach was heading to the North East for a meeting with Shepherd. But Shepherd has reacted frostily to the speculation and believes the rumours are being engineered as part of a betting coup.
The Magpies supremo remains committed to taking his time before appointing Souness' replacement and is adamant Hitzfeld is not under consideration.
"There have been stories sweeping Tyneside about who I'm supposed to be meeting and where," said Shepherd. "It is highly organised and designed to make people a lot of money. "There was even a 'leaked' full colour brochure doing the rounds in Newcastle which laid out Ottmar Hitzfeld's CV and his record as a manager. "It's amazing the lengths people will go to to start a rumour which means they can bet for or against a certain person getting the job. "But I can state here and now that there has been no approach to Hitzfeld and there are no plans to approach him. "I've said all along we will take our time over this appointment. We've rushed into things before and we've made mistakes, I admit that. "That's not the case this time. Glenn Roeder is an excellent caretaker, a really safe pair of hands, so we can afford to make sure we appoint the right man without the necessity of being hurried into it."
A copy of the dossier can be downloaded by following this link
Nufcmismanagement view:
This reaction just about sums up the man in charge of the football club, what has he got between his ears?
The dossier that he mentioned wasn't leaked, it was all over the Internet, it was also sent to him by fans of the club who didn't trut Shepherd to make the correct choice of manager after the Souness debacle. The dossier was easy to find and people actually mentioned on the Internet that they'd sent it to him before he ever mentioned it.