8 Most Ridiculous Newcastle United Rumours That Never Happened

7. Geoff Sheard's Takeover

Desperate to flog Newcastle to the highest bidder in the wake Newcastle's relegation to the Championship in 2009, Mike Ashley was approached by Lancaster-based entrepreneur George Sheard (almost Shearer) to take the Magpies off his hands and pip local Tyneside businessman Barry Moat to the post.

"He's keen to run a football club," a source close to Sheard informed the Guardian. "It didn't work out when he tried to take over Sheffield Wednesday but feels he has something to offer Newcastle. He's got serious backing and is in negotiations with Seymour Pierce."

He might have harboured desires of taking over the Magpies but suspicions that Sheard didn't possess the capital didn't fool managing director Derek Llambias, although there was a rumour that he was just a 'figurehead' for a shady collection of other interested parties, presumably American, and was putting no money of his own into the takeover bid.

In the end there was no satisfactory conclusion to the takeover saga that gripped us for an entire summer. Ashley stayed, we went up and the rest is history.