Autobiography

Sir Bobby Charlton has more reason than most
to be on a pedestal, but he is always charming
and pleasant whenever we go to Old Trafford.
Martin Edwards too, when he was chairman,
was an absolute gentleman with charm and
humour, despite his colourful reputation. In the
past the hospitality of David Dein at Arsenal
and Doug Ellis at Aston Villa were
exceptional, as was that of Milan Mandaric
(then at Portsmouth), Jeremy Peace at West
Bromwich Albion, Dave Whelan at
Wigan, Steve Gibson at Middlesbrough and my
friends Paul Scally at Gillingham and John
Madejski at Reading.
All are special memories of people who go out
of their way to be welcoming. Freddy Shepherd
the previous chairman of Newcastle put on
probably the best lunch in the Premier League,
served by the butler, Graham Peters. Despite
the fact that he tried to steal my manager
Steve Bruce, I like Freddy very much. He is
down-to-earth and forthright, as he displayed
after we beat them 1–0 at St James’s Park in
August 2003. We were preparing to leave
when Freddy asked me if I’d enjoyed the food
and hospitality.
I replied, ‘Yes Freddy, thank you it was
superb.’
His response was, ‘Good. You’ve got your three
points, now f*** off!’
I also recall going to White Hart Lane and
being treated particularly well by one of their
directors over some guests I had joining me.
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