Sir John cuts his ties with the Toon
By Stephen Oliver, The Evening Chronicle, Aug 8, 2003
Today marked the end of an era for Newcastle United as Sir John Hall finally cuts his personal ties with the club.
Shareholders meeting at St James's Park later today were expected to rubber-stamp a deal to buy 16 million shares from Sir John in a £4.5 million deal.
The knockdown price values the shares at just 27.1p - a big discount on their value on the stock market of 40p.
This reflects the way boom-club United has seen its shares rocket in recent times - with their value more than doubling in the last 12 months.
Once the club has finalised the deal for the shares the plan is to simply cancel them in a move which will see the value of the remaining shareholders' stake rise.
Sir John has also agreed to loan the club half the price of the deal for a year to help finance the arrangement.
Following the deal, the Hall family will still own 41 per cent of the club through the family trust and Cameron Hall, while chairman Freddy Shepherd's stake will be 25 per cent.
It was in 1991 that Sir John took control of an ailing United and, together with Kevin Keegan, helped the club regain its position as a footballing force to be reckoned with.
The 70-year-old multi-millionaire quit the St James's Park boardroom in 1997 and has now decided to sell his personal stake on the club by offering it back to the board.
A Newcastle insider said: "In many ways, this is a very sad day for the club because the impact Sir John had on United was simply enormous. But there's an incredible buzz about the place at the moment and there's no doubt this is the club to watch, both on and off the field. "Recent high profile signings, like Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer, have underlined the club's determination to fight for the top honours."
The strong performance contrasts with that of relegated Sunderland, where the share price has fallen from a 12-month high of 217.5p to 47.5p.
In May the Chronicle revealed Newcastle was the best performing club in Europe on share price.
Frank Gilmour, chairman of the Newcastle United Independent Supporters' Association, said he will be sad to see Sir John cutting his financial ties with St James's Park as his contribution had been vital in turning the club around.
He added: "If you think about where the club was and where we are now he was a big part of that. "There's no way the club would be in the position it is now if it wasn't for Sir John."
Captain of industry Sir John Hall is the multi-millionaire who masterminded the creation of the hugely successful Metro Centre on Gateshead. But the self-made man will possibly always be best remembered for the key role he played in waking up the sleeping giant of Newcastle United.
Following a bitter and prolonged battle for control of St James's Park, he eventually took the helm and the Magpies set sail for the Premier League.
Inspired by Barcelona, the benefactor set about creating a Newcastle Sporting Club, involving football, rugby, basketball and ice hockey.
His ambitious aim was to turn Newcastle into the sporting capital of Europe by 2001.
But, by the end of the 1990s, the vision was falling apart.
Ice hockey was the first to go in the summer of 1998.
In February 1999, it was announced that basketball and rugby union would follow.
Although Sir John has now stepped down from Newcastle United, he remains the club's life president.
He now spends his time between Gibraltar and the Hall family's stately home at Wynyard. It is understood he is interested in a project to build shopping malls across Europe.