Newcastle bosses 2-0 down in injury time

THE beleaguered chairman and vice-chairman of Newcastle United were today considering the effect of a second wave of embarrassing allegations made about them in Sunday newspapers.

The News of the World published further details of conversations said to be recorded in a Spanish brothel between chairman Freddy Shepherd and vice-chairman Douglas Hall and an undercover reporter.

In a secretly filmed video recording of the two men screened on Sky News, Mr Hall is seen saying: "English girls are crazy, but they do it for nothing... We are all playboys... well, trying to be playboys."

The reports have prompted further calls from Newcastle's Independent Supporters Association for the men to resign. Chairman Kevin Miles said: "These latest revelations can only add fuel to the flames of anger that already exist. These two must resign from the board, so we can go about rebuilding confidence in the club. There's been a breathtaking display of arrogance by these two individuals."

With the two men still refusing to resign, the club's non-executive directors confirmed that they were considering their positions and would be meeting tomorrow to discuss the growing crisis.

In a desperate attempt to block the further allegations, Freddy Shepherd, the club chairman, went to the High Court on Friday to seek an injunction against the News of the World.

But Mr Justice Lindsay threw out the application, saying: "Freddy Shepherd has been whoring around the world and has no right to protection from breach of confidence."

Phil Hall, editor of the News of the World, said the newspaper was publishing 10 more pages of revelations today about Mr Shepherd and the vice-chairman, Douglas Hall. "They have made a number of serious allegations about other senior players, talking about their injuries and lifestyles," he said.

Last weekend the newspaper published details of talks in which the two directors allegedly boasted to an undercover reporter about their sexual exploits around the world and insulted former manager Kevin Keegan and star striker Alan Shearer.

The men also reportedly described Newcastle women as "dogs" and mocked fans who paid for replica shirts.

Gerrard Tyrrell, Douglas Hall's solicitor, accused the newspaper of entrapment and said that his client had no intention of resigning.

The editor said the News of the World would be putting its tapes of the conversations between the reporter and the directors on to a public phoneline.

Yesterday Mr Shepherd was reported to have flown to Barbados with his wife Lorelle.

Anne McElvoy, Section 2