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Article: Analysis: The moment Sir John met his match Sir John Hall had a dream. He wanted to turn Newcastle into the `Barcel ona of the north', with a company that led the field in every sport from football to ice hockey. So what went wrong?
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- March 3, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1999 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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THIS WAS a grandiose scheme, even for a multimillionaire who said
having the courage to pursue dreams was the sweet secret of success.
In 1995 the ebullient Sir John Hall, controlling shareholder of
Newcastle United Football Club, announced creation of the UK's first
all-encompassing sporting business empire.
He would support the successes of the team he had resurrected by
buying rugby, ice hockey and basketball sides.
Sir John offered vision, imagination, and hyperbole. He said his
Newcastle Sporting Club might have 100,000 members by Christmas.
British sport would be reinvented through his enterprise, based in
the north east, and parallelling the one spawned by the mighty
Barcelona ...