Source: Telegraph
Newcastle owner Mike Ashley shelves plans for statue of Alan Shearer
The project to build £65,000-a-piece bronze statues of Shearer and legendary striker Jackie Milburn was commissioned by former chairman Freddy Shepherd but Ashley has not realised his dreams since taking over the club two years ago.
That is the latest embarrassment for the club that was relegated after Ashley brought Shearer in as interim manager late last season and is now managerless after the sports retail tycoon went cold on the idea of appointing the former England skipper on a long-term basis.
The Morpeth-based sculptor Tom Maley was given the go-ahead to make the eight-foot high statues of the club's favourite footballing sons in 2007 and they seemed destined to take their place outside the main entrance to St James' Park on Barrack Road.
But then Sir John Hall stole his family stake in the club to Sports Direct founder Ashley who then ousted Shepherd from the corridors of power and the plans for the statues - " called Local Heroes – were effectively dropped to the dismay of the Milburn family.
Maley, who built another statue of Milburn in Newcastle during the mid-90s as well as an eight-feet tall statue of the former Middlesbrough skipper Wilf Mannion outside the Riverside, was aiming to do something similar at their North-East neighbours.
He liaised closely with Shearer following his retirement from playing football as well as the Milburn family as he developed prototype figurines in a process that lasted months.
But now Maley is in the dark over the future of the initiative and with Ashley now trying desperately to sell the club he believes only the possible return of Shepherd will kick-start the project.
"Shearer and Milburn are arguably the greatest players the club has ever produced, and the idea was to symbolise Milburn transferring the mantle of genius over the years," Maley said: "I don't envisage the thing going forward now. I did send the club a message, but I haven't heard anything back.
"I spoke to Shearer about the two statues months ago and he was the same as me: â What's happening?' "Freddy was the one who kicked it off. If he comes back into the fold, I' d be able to speak to him." Jack Milburn junior expressed his family's disappointment at the stalling of the scheme.
"I haven't spoken to Tom Maley for a long time now," Milburn said. "It could have been scrapped altogether.
"I suppose there must be more important things going on at the club at the moment.
"It's a shame because the prototypes are amazing, but it seems like it's not going to happen." Shearer secured his place in Tyneside folklore by striking his 201st goal in 394 Newcastle games in February, 2006, to break Jackie Milburn's 49-year record.
Despite Shearer and Milburn's standing locally, club officials are remaining tight-lipped with a spokesman merely stating: "The club is unable to comment at the present time." Meanwhile, it has emerged that Newcastle managing-director Derek Llambias, who runs the club for Ashley, has been largely based in London since the club was relegated three weeks ago.
