In the final part of our dissection of Newcastle United, the article writing team in place for next season took some time out to answer some questions regarding the takeover, and their hopes and aspirations for next season and beyond.

With Freddy Shepherd’s reign at Newcastle over, what will the Newcastle history books have to say about him?
Matthew Lishman: He’ll certainly come under the ‘close, but not close enough’ category. He’s pumped millions into the team, but just not managed it.

HTT: Depends whose publications you’re reading, Thompson House’s or a fans. Overall he’ll be seen as someone who failed to build on the Sir John Hall and Kevin Keegan years and as he ultimately proved to be no obstacle to the takeover, he’ll get off lightly then because he’s been a complete disaster from the word go really and deserves nothing but contempt.

NE5: They (Shepherd and the Halls) left behind a much better club than they found and were unlucky not to win a trophy but their time was up because (hopefully) a better man came along.

Bob Yule: He was a buffoon.

Jonny Hall: The history books will mainly say he’s a poor chairman who instead of focusing on what the team needed, he went and bought (or tried to buy) big stars to make the fans love him. He signed Michael Owen and Damien Duff when players who didn’t have as ‘big’ a name would have done twice the job that either of these players have done at the club. He’s tried for David Beckham and Wayne Rooney when really Newcastle need to sort out the defence.

Then again, Shepherd spent a lot of money at the club, he can’t be deny that. Whether it was his own or not, Newcastle forked out a lot of money in Shepherd’s 10 years as chairman. Souness got £50m, Robson got more than double of that. No one can ever really say his heart wasn’t in it, it’s clear to see that he loved this club, he just didn’t have the brains and ability to run it properly.

Lloydie: When he became chairman Newcastle were on the brink of something great but he didn’t deliver. If the new man can do one better, all power to him.

Baggio: He’ll always be remembered for appointing Souness.

Matt Raisbeck: He tried his best but overall, he failed. The club he inherited was in a great position but we’ve gone backwards since and his time is up now. Quite simply, over his 10 years in charge, too many mistakes were made at board level. Shepherd got key decisions wrong and the timing of them was often awful, as in the case of sacking Sir Bobby. The best thing he can do now is not stand in Ashley’s way and let the club move forward.

Alpal78: Chairman who got most of his managerial appointments wrong but who backed them generously with transfer funds. “A fool and his money is soon parted” rings a bell. Massively underachieved given the club’s potential.

Paul Mosley: W.F.Shepherd - Chairman (1997-2007)

A.K. Dholakia: They will invariably reflect favourably upon him. He’s far from perfect, and by far I mean far, but, he’s been at the helm of the ship while the club has progressed dramatically these past few years and that counts for a lot.

Tom Lynch: Hopefully, the best thing they will say is that he stood down when Mike Ashley came along. Official books will probably be diplomatic, unofficial books - by fans etc, will say what an incompetent, vain, tit he is/was.

What are your hopes and future expectations for the club under the AA team of Allardyce and Ashley?
Matthew Lishman: In the immediate future, i.e. next season, I’ll be content with the Top 8. Transitional periods take time, and, depending on what we get to spend in the summer, visible improvement, to European qualification, is a minimum. I’m not asking for too much too fast.

HTT: I’m very hopeful and for once really excited about the future. I believe in Sam Allardyce we have a top manager with the potential to be a great one. We certainly have the most forward thinking manager in the country and the best British manager. However things won’t change overnight and I urge caution and for fans and indeed the new owner to be very patient because this is one hell of a job to turn us around on and off the pitch. We only need to look at Aston Villa to see that a new owner and a new chairman doesn’t guaranteed automatic success. They both need time and we must afford them it. Do that and we have a great chance of recovering firstly and secondly, achieving some form of success.

NE5: Allardyce will improve the club and the team, and I hope Ashley will back him and show ambition for the club.

Bob Yule: I’m very optimistic. Winning trophies is very, very hard these days, but I expect them to get us back to the level of the top four in about three years.

Jonny Hall: For the first time I can remember, I’m actually excited about the future and what it could bring. In Sam Allardyce we have got a perfect manager to sort out the situation at the club at the minute. We need an organised structure, both on the pitch and off it and Allardyce will definitely come in and bring about order. He will get the best out of the players that haven’t quite made it under Souness and Roeder (Ramage, Ameobi, Emre, Duff, and possibly even Luque) and he will build back up a club that has fallen. With him at the helm, I’m expecting a Top 6 finish although I wouldn’t like to put pressure on him so as long as we are challenging for that spot next season, I’d be content with a top half finish.

As for Ashley, I hope this finally spells the end of Shepherd at the club. We’ve all been saying for far too long that what the clubs need is a complete clearout of players, manager, backroom staff, medical team, board and chairman and it looks as though we’re getting our wish. The players are already starting to go with Bramble and Moore among those being released and the manager has already been replaced. Allardyce is looking to bring in his own 28 man team to the club which should rid us of the joke of a backroom team we’ve already got and Ashley is looking to take full control of the club and appoint his own board of directors which should rid us of Shepherd and Co. which is a brilliant start.

Lloydie: Lets go with hopes shall we? I want to see a team that is bursting with professional pride, that never quits and that always looks like they want to be on the pitch, playing football and winning games. I want to see discipline and guts at the back, and flair up front coupled with the kind of ruthless will to win that players like Shearer, van Nistelroy and Terry seem to just ooze. I want to see Roy Keane and Allardyce knocking chunks out of each other in front of the Gallowgate end following a 90th minute Steven Taylor winner. I want Ashley to sign up Angelina Jolie and Drea di Matteo (google her) as cheerleaders.

Matt Raisbeck: Allardyce and Ashley will give the club overhaul it so desperately needs, both on and off the pitch. I trust Allardyce’s ability in the transfer market to get us the right players and make us a solid unit and difficult to beat. Hopefully he will be able to bring most of his backroom staff to the club and implement the scientific methods that were such a success at Bolton. For me, the only worry is the reports that Ashley is only going to give Allardyce one year to turn things around. Sorting the club out will take time so I hope Ashley will show some patience where the manager is concerned. Looking long term, the potential takeover means we can compete in the transfer market and Ashley certainly seems ambitious, so I’m cautiously optimistic about what he will do, if and when he gains full control. But for the first time in a good few years, I’m genuinely excited about the next season.

Alpal78: Not so sure what to expect of Ashley, but really optimistic bout the other ‘A’. He’s just the man to bring in some semblance of structure into our archaic set up. I’d give him two years just to get the structure right, we should qualify for UEFA Cup (at least) in the 3rd year. I’m gonna be patient with him.

Paul Mosley: To sort us out completely on and off the field, and get us back challenging consistently for European places.

A.K. Dholakia: Given the resources of the club, I think Champions’ League qualification is always the ultimate aim. The resources of the club seem to fluctuate fairly quickly though, so it depends on what’s happening there. The team itself needs a complete overhaul. New midfield/full-backs please!

Tom Lynch: My hopes are that Ashley will provide the funds to allow Allardyce to sort the team out good and properly, and that we’ll be able to move back up challenging for the Champions League places in the not too distant future and hopefully, just maybe win a trophy of some note - but we’ve had these hopes more than once haven’t we?

Are there any players that you are hoping to see in the black and white shirt next season?
HTT: I have my favourites as we all do but I shall leave all that in the capable hands of the manager and trust whoever he does bring in to do the business for him and the club. I’d like to see us completely revamp the defence and look towards the midfield, though because these are the weak areas and most important areas.

NE5: Tevez.

Bob Yule: Campbell, Defoe, Baines.

Jonny Hall: The only players I want to see at Newcastle next season are the right ones. Too many times in the recent past have we spent money on luxuries that we simply didn’t need (Duff, Owen etc.) and the players we have bought also haven’t succeeded as they should have (Boumsong, Babayaro, Parker, Emre, even Martins), so Allardyce must get it right and I believe he will. We need defenders. Not only younger players for the future like Curtis Davies, but players such as Campbell and Hyypia who can come and put some organisation into the defence. Our younger defenders need a mentor and someone who can take control.

Lloydie: Apart from Jolie and di Matteo on the sidelines and Michael Owen up front, I’d like to see anyone who can lead the back four, could be Sol Campbell, could be the next step in Steven Taylors career I don’t really mind, and some really good attacking full backs, I don’t like Ashley Cole’s attitude so lets hope Wenger has a falling out with Gael Clichy.

Baggio: Crouch, although I don’t think black and white stripes will flatter his physique too much.

Matt Raisbeck: It still bugs me that we didn’t go for Sol Campbell last summer, so if there’s any way we could get him this time around I’d be delighted. He’s what we’ve needed at the back for so long and would bring the likes of Steven Taylor on leaps and bounds. Two quality full backs are a must - Leighton Baines or Wayne Bridge at left back and Ryan Taylor to fight with Solano for the right back position would be good. I’d be quite happy with Joey Barton in place of Parker, but Stephen Appiah would be even better, if he was available Lastly, if Owen leaves then I hope Sam goes for Darren Bent.

Alpal78: Real full backs who can defend and overlap and an imposing experienced centre back. A strong centre forward that can hold up the ball wouldn’t go amiss either.

Paul Mosley: Defenders who can defend would be a start.

A.K. Dholakia: Emmanuelson, Van der Vaart and others. Depends on how much cash we can splash.

Tom Lynch: Kaka, Messi….. seriously though, I wouldn’t mind seeing Klaas Jan Huntelaar here - I think we need a tall striker, and he would fit the bill for me.

Will Michael Owen be here next season?
Matthew Lishman: I think he will, actually. None of the big hitters will pay the huge fees for him just yet, and I reckon he’ll use this season as a stepping stone at the very least.

HTT: Yes, I think he will. However I’d personally peddle him.

NE5: Yes, but no longer, but it depends on the fee the club can get for him.

Jonny Hall: Yes. I don’t think he will bail out on the club, especially when nobody else wants him. I don’t think we’re his number one choice and if he could leave for a Champions League club, he probably would but then again if you aren’t a Geordie or someone who holds this club close to your heart, who wouldn’t want to go and play European football? However he owes us. We saved him from his Real Madrid nightmare and nursed him back to fitness after his broken foot and then his knee trouble, which combined, kept him out for the good part of one and a half years. He’s only player 13 or so games for the club and owes us at least another season. However if we get success under Allardyce next year, I could see him staying longer.

Lloydie: Yes. It was touch and go before Ashley turned up, but now it’s done and dusted. Half a good season and he’ll get a nice pay rise at Christmas. The only thing that could go wrong is a fall out with Allardyce over tactics, but given how much Allardyce got out of Anelka last season I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Especially as a season without European football is probably just what he needs to build himself up again.

Baggio: Not sure, if he does stay it’ll be because none of the top 4 want him.

Matt Raisbeck: It certainly seems like he wants to move on, but if none of the top four are willing to take him then he’ll stay. Personally, I hope that he does go and the money will be re-invested in the team.

Alpal78: Yes, though don’t think he’d be as good as he was before. Maybe 15 goals if we are lucky.

A.K. Dholakia: Yes, he seems too kind-hearted to do as dishonourable a thing and leave us already.

Tom Lynch: Yes. Rumours about him going are inevitible, generated by a media that can’t bare England’s best players being anywhere other than Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. I know people have criticised Owen, but I think he’s an honorable bloke, and given his injuries, he’ll stick with us - I think Allardyce coming in and Ashley’s takeover will help that.

Where do Newcastle currently stand amongst the other clubs in the Premiership?
HTT: Potentially the sky is the limit and it always has been, however, in reality we are a mid-table club and not too dissimilar to those around us like Villa, Everton, Spurs and others. The way the game is today, just being outside of that top 4 means you’re a nobody and that’s an attitude we need to remember because being a club with a big fan base, good stadium and lots of potential means nothing unless you can convert that all into tangible success like the real big clubs do.

Bob Yule: Very hard to say. A lot of changes are happening. We’re some way off the top four, but the takeover means that we’re not going to have other clubs overtaking us.

Jonny Hall: At the minute, Newcastle are mid-table but miles off the Top four and a bit of a reach from the Top six. We simply aren’t the club we were 3 years ago under Bobby Robson and we have got to accept that now. We’ve lost ground on the Top four and it isn’t going to be easy to catch up. However, with the takeover on the horizon and the promise of money for our newly appointed manager, the sky is the limit. We’re making the changes to give this club some potential and our future is in our own hands; if we can get it right, the sky’s the limit as far as I’m concerned, we can go as far as we want to go.

Lloydie: Before Ashley I’d have said we were just part of a pack of clubs fighting to get into Europe. Now we’re the lead challengers to the dominance of the top four. A UEFA spot should be ours for the taking next season, our real target is to pick off one of the big four. I thought one of them might slip up this season, I’m sure one of them will next year, and we’re in pole position to take their place.

Matt Raisbeck: I think we are in a group of clubs along with Spurs, Everton and Villa who are closer to the top four than the rest, but in reality still a million miles away from really coming close to usurping any of them. However with the club in the middle of essential change, we could realistically be in a position to threaten in a few years. For now though, the top six could be achievable, depending on Allardyce’s transfers this summer and how quickly things come together.

A.K. Dholakia: Stature-wise, exceptionally high. Footballing-wise, circa 14th.

Many thanks to all who took time out to answer these questions.

As usual Newcastle-Online would like to know your views, so please do not hesitate, and Have Your Say.