Security consultant Brian Tough was ordered to TAP PHONES of unhappy managers and players—and even take SECRET FILM of England legend Alan Shearer that could be used against him if he tried to leave the club.
The spy—on a £40,000 a year retainer plus cash bungs for top secret operations—also spills the beans on how he BUGGED:
Toonlegend Kevin Keegan's calls to his wife to see if he was planning to quit as manager
Rival team Sunderland's chairman Bob Murray—to find out secret plans for their new stadium
Ex-Government advisor Alaistair Balls, then a development corporation chief working on funding for the Wearside club's ground
The editor of a local newspaper because he'd run knocking stories on the club, and even
The butler of 74-year-old Newcastle president Sir John Hall.
And in an explosive revelation that will incense loyal Toon fans, Tough reveals how he was paid to SCUPPER a supporters' campaign to stop the club taking 4,000 seats away from them for rich clients.
In a shattering confession, Tough says: "At times I felt really bad about it, especially when I spied on our own players and senior staff. The players and fans would have gone mad if they had found out what I was up to."
The bugging took place during the reign of disgraced Toon bosses Freddie Shepherd and Douglas Hall—both caught by the News of the World in a Spanish brothel ridiculing players and fans in 1999 in a soccer scandal that became known as Toongate.
Last night Shepherd—ousted as Newcastle chairman in a summer takeover by sports shops tycoon Mike Ashley—ADMITTED he found out about 52-year-old Tough's phone tapping in 2004 after it happened.
But the portly 65-year-old—who walked away from Newcastle with £37 million and is believed to be considering buying into Leeds United—said Toongate Two was nothing to do with him.
"Tough did make me aware of what he had done but I did not condone it," he said. "I couldn't control what he did. He didn't work for me. I had nothing to do with bugging anybody."
However he failed to pass this information about illegal activities at his club onto police.
Tough was employed by former Newcastle vice-chairman Douglas, Sir John's son, as a security consultant in 1994. He was paid through Cameron Hall Developments. Douglas, 47, was the chairman of this property development company, which had been set up by his Sir John.
Tough—who doubled up as a bodyguard for Douglas—told us: "I was the man tasked with carrying out the dirty work. I personally arranged bugging operations.
"I didn't do this off my own bat. I knew what I was being asked to sort out was potentially illegal, but at the time I was just so happy to be in with the club and so I went for it."
The price was £3,000 a time in cash for a phone tap to be placed on a victim's line—plus a monitoring fee of around £500 a day.
"Any juicy tapes were immediately to be brought to my contact at the club. I even played some of the tapes in boxes at St James' Park," claimed Tough.
