The Guardian is reporting that a source close to the goings on to find a buyer for the club has revealed that Mike Ashley may still be in control at St James’ Park next season.
The news is that the due diligence that would-be buyers have completed, has shown some troubling things about Newcastle’s financial liabilities.
The source said:
“The process is moving extremely slowly, there is still genuine hope of a sale but it’s not looking imminent,”
“Newcastle comes with a lot of baggage.”
If the sale is not completed by the end of August then there’s no way a buyer would come in, because they’d be burdened with the massive problem of paying the wage bill, which is still around £62M a year.
And Ashley has done nothing to reduce that wage bill by selling players, or even getting any new players in.