Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd maintains there is no extra pressure on manager Graeme Souness to deliver results following the arrival of Michael Owen at St James' Park.

The Tynesiders pulled off a coup when they signed the England striker from Real Madrid on transfer deadline day, for a fee of around £17million.

Owen's arrival came soon after the £9.5m signing of Spain forward Albert Luque, and was followed by the return of Nolberto Solano to the North-East from Aston Villa and the departure of midfielder Jermaine Jenas to Tottenham.

Souness has, however, yet to guide Newcastle to victory from their four Barclays Premiership games so far - and the Magpies are second bottom of the table with just one point.

Shepherd, though, insists no added pressure has been placed on the manager following his summer spending spree.

''No, of course not,'' Shepherd declared, ''and I don't think there is any manager in this country who would not want Michael Owen.''

Shepherd added: ''We have brought Nobby in at the same time, and with Emre and Parker, Boumsong at the back, and Luque on the left, who is a great player. We have a very good team out there now.''

Owen had openly admitted a return to Anfield had been his preferred option on leaving Madrid. But after he was greeted by 15,000 fans at St James' Park following the official signing and media conference, the former Liverpool striker revealed the experience had made him quite emotional.

The England international looks set to make his home debut against Fulham on Saturday, and Shepherd believes it will be some occasion.

''We are all delighted with it, and so are the supporters at Newcastle. The main thing was to get a world-class striker,'' he said.

''We were criticised for not getting someone in earlier, but we took our time and got the guy we wanted.

''Everybody wants to be loved - and he certainly will be at Newcastle, and that is what made the difference.''

Shepherd added: ''He will be glad he came to Newcastle - you saw the reception he got, that was a world-record reception for any player, there were thousands there who wanted him.''