Sir John tells Shepherd to sell

Sir John sold his family's 41.6 per cent shareholding in the club to Ashley on Tuesday for £55million.

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Shepherd, however, has so far given no indication he is ready to walk away from his 10-year spell as Newcastle chairman, and has warned the billionaire behind Sports Direct that he is ready for a fight.

Sir John, 74, and Shepherd, 63, were the two leading figures who took control of Newcastle at the beginning of the Nineties from the McKeag family. Sir John eventually passed on the chairmanship to Shepherd when he retired in 1997, but the two are at loggerheads over the future direction of the club.

The Newcastle board on Friday revealed they have requested a meeting "next week" with Ashley and his team "to discuss the offer and his plans for Newcastle in more detail".

However, Shepherd has warned Ashley he will not sell his 29.6 per cent holding for the £1 a share offer that has been made - and that Sir John took.

Sir John believes it is time for a new regime to be given the opportunity to take a sliding club back up the Premiership.

He said: "They've got to go for the rest of the shares. If they get them, I'm sure they will invest. Ashley wants to buy the club.

"He's made a takeover bid for the rest of the shares and it's now up to the rest of the directors to decide what to do.

"Someone like him would probably want full control to make the investment. I think I've done the best thing by selling but one can never tell.

"I'm 74 now and for some time I've felt the family need to take a new direction. It's been known we've wanted to sell our shares and move on to other things.

"We probably ran out of ideas a bit. You have to make changes every now and again. There's no room for old men. I've got a lot of experience but it's a young man's game.

"We've a had a few people come to us but they weren't the right ones for the club. I feel basically Mike Ashley and his team are the right ones. He will take us to, in my view, a new dimension.

"I'm certain he will be good for the club or I wouldn't have sold to him. Even if he is quiet, he knows the passion of the fans. He knows how much it means on Tyneside.

"I've talked to him enough to be assured they have the passion for the club as we all have. You can't run a club without being attached to it. He's very much like me in a way.

"He's a self-made man, a very, very hard worker, a nice chap. He knows sport. He's 42 and look what he's done. He's got this global business and global interest in sport."

Ashley will look to sack Shepherd as chairman if he passes the 50 per cent mark in shares owned in the club. But that will cost a further £922,000.

Shepherd has to be paid two years of his salary if he is dismissed. Sir John's son, Douglas, will also pick up more than £800,000.

Michael Owen, meanwhile, has still to meet new Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce. The pair have spoken by phone twice and while Allardyce wants Owen to stay at St James' Park, there have still been no assurances about the striker's future.