It's very obvious from the exterior that former Newcastle chief exec Llambias blamed Alan Shearer for Newcastle's relegation in 2009, and indeed that he judged him retrospectively for trying to get Michael Owen to sign a new bumper deal (with even more crippling wages), and the old hate spilled out a few times. Most memorably, Llambias hit back at Shearer after he criticised the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool (which still now looks a master-stroke given what happened afterwards):
"Do I care what Alan Shearer has to say? When he ran this football club we were relegated after picking up just five points from his eight games in charge."
Llambias was also recorded at another point saying appointing Shearer at all had been a mistake and that there would never be a right time to appoint him. Sticks and stone eh, Derek?
