Former Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd believes the club has sold out its future by allowing Andy Carroll to join Liverpool.
Shepherd, who brought Michael Owen to Newcastle for £17m, in 2005, said his concern was the club might struggle to lure players with the same impact and future prospects as Carroll.
He told the Evening Chronicle: "They've sold the future of the club, Carroll will go on to play for England for the next 10 years. I'll be very disappointed if they don't reinvest. Why would they sell him otherwise?
"That lad could've taken the team forward much like Alan Shearer. We could've sold Shearer, I got an offer from Liverpool for big money, but I refused it, because I didn't want him to leave Newcastle."
Shepherd continued: "Nobody could have pushed him (Carroll) into anything, he could have just said he didn't want to go. When he says he was 'pushed', he could have just said no.
"There's always two sides of a story. Both sides are trying to blame each other. I think they want shelter from the storm."
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