FREDDY Shepherd's war of words with Barry Silkman has stepped up a gear with the Newcastle United chairman warning the football agent that he 'won't get a penny out of the club'.

Former Manchester City player Silkman is in dispute with the Magpies over the deal that took Clarence Acuna from Universidad de Chile to Tyneside in 2000, and claims he is still owed £100,000 from Newcastle.

The club say they completed the deal for the Chile international themselves.

The row has rumbled on for nearly three years, but Shepherd has insisted there will be no 'out of court deal', and the club will not hand any money over to the agent.

"I am looking forward to my day in court, and he (Silkman) will not get a penny out of this club," said Shepherd.

"I would rather chop my leg off and eat it than give in to these demands.

"All I will say is that I was quoted a fee of £2m. When we travelled to South America we managed to do the deal with the club for £650,000.

"Do you think I am in the business of making £1.35m for someone else? I don't think so.

"One thing is for sure, there will be no out-of-court settlement."

Silkman, who was involved in the deal that took Daniel Cordone to St James' Park on a 12-month loan deal in 2000, insists he has signed documentation from a number of United officials.

Meanwhile England star Jermaine Jenas believes Newcastle are still in the hunt for the Premiership title.

The youngster will return to domestic action at the weekend following his impressive display for England Under-21s in the 1-1 draw with Turkey Under-21s at St James' Park on Tuesday.

Jenas said: "We've some important games coming up.

"We've got to go to Everton this weekend and get a result, although we've shown we can go to places like that and get results.

"But if you look at anybody's fixture list over the last few weeks of the season, they are all important games remaining. People are fighting to stay up, win the league or get into Europe."We're there or thereabouts, but I'm not going to say we can win the championship.

"I think Arsenal are a great side and they are up there with Manchester United. We will just play each of our games as they come and hopefully we will get the results."

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