manorpark Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/5985057/Newcastle-takeover-in-balance-as-Mike-Ashley-and-Barry-Moat-wrangle-over-fee.html Newcastle takeover in balance as Mike Ashley and Barry Moat wrangle over fee Talks between representatives of Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and prospective buyer Barry Moat will continue on Friday as they attempt to complete a takeover deal in time for the start of the Championship season this weekend. By Paul Kelso Published: 8:00AM BST 07 Aug 2009 The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Thursday that Moat was in advanced negotiations over the purchase of the club, and the Tyneside-based businessman spent Thursday in discussions with Keith Harris, chairman of Seymour Pierce, the investment bank handling the sale for Ashley. Talks between the two sides will resume on Friday, with price understood to be the main point of contention. Ashley initially demanded £100 million for the club, but with the annual wage bill standing at more than £65 million, Moat is reluctant to meet the valuation. Unless a number of the best-paid players can be offloaded before the transfer window closes at the end of August, Moat’s valuation puts the club at closer to £70 million. Sources close to the process said on Thursday night that a compromise price between £70 million and around £90 million could be agreed, but there was no certainty that the deal would go through. Club sources have indicated in recent weeks that Ashley, who is in the United States, is so desperate to offload the club that he would consider taking a down payment now and offering a loan note for the balance of the sale. Ashley’s intentions have not always been consistent however, and it is unclear to what lengths he is willing to go to to ensure a sale. Earlier this week he let it be known that he would stay at the club for another season if a deal could not be agreed by the end of this week. Club sources also indicated some scepticism at Moat’s chances of sealing a deal on Thursday. Seymour Pierce are satisfied that he has the means to complete a takeover however and believe that Moat represents Ashley’s best chance of an exit strategy before the season starts. Having put the club up for sale Ashley is negotiating from an exceptionally weak position and risks seeing his personal losses on the club, already running at more than £100 million, increasing if the club do not bounce back to the Premier League. As the club’s largest single outgoing, player wages are a significant stumbling block. When Newcastle were relegated they had 12 players earning close to £3 million a year, an unmanageable burden for a club with revenues unlikely to reach much more than half that figure in the Championship. Leading player agency First Artists has a mandate from Ashley to offload players. Obafemi Martins has already been sold for £8.5 million, and Sebastien Bassong and Habib Beye are likely to follow, to Tottenham and Hull respectively. High earners Joey Barton and Alan Smith will remain at least in the short-term however, with Smith due to captain the side in their opening game at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. Alan Shearer, who Moat will approach to manage the club should his takeover succeed, will watch the game at the Hawthorns for the BBC, and is expected to break his silence in an interview with Football Focus on Saturday lunchtime. His return would be hugely popular with supporters desperate for Ashley to depart, but resigned to him remaining in charge for the start of the club’s first season outside the Premier League in 16 years. I am not sure where these people get their ridiculous estimates of TURNOVER from. Including Premier League 'parachute payments', it will be amazing if our turnover (currently around £100M) falls below £60M this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/5985057/Newcastle-takeover-in-balance-as-Mike-Ashley-and-Barry-Moat-wrangle-over-fee.html Newcastle takeover in balance as Mike Ashley and Barry Moat wrangle over fee Talks between representatives of Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and prospective buyer Barry Moat will continue on Friday as they attempt to complete a takeover deal in time for the start of the Championship season this weekend. season outside the Premier League in 16 years. Basically the deal hangs on whether Ashley is willing to lower the price to what Moat's consortium is prepared to offer. The deal is there to be done and seymour Pierce has recommended Ashley to do it. It just needs Fatso to bite the bullet and sign it off by the look of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
9 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 is it just me or do we always look close to a take over or big take over news on days we sell players? i predict more news when beye slips out the door Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 If porky hangs on for another season the clubs price will only drop further, especially since he has not reinvested for a promotion challenge. The price will only fall further and further. what a prick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 If porky hangs on for another season the clubs price will only drop further, especially since he has not reinvested for a promotion challenge. The price will only fall further and further. what a prick. Everyone seems to realise this but him. Hopefully it's what SP are shouting at him too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pedro_de_geordieo Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 United sale on verge of collapse http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2009/08/07/united-sale-is-on-verge-of-collapse-61634-24337912/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Here we go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 I hope a large plane mistakes him for an Aircraft Carrier and tries to land on the fat turds pudgy face. That, or someone mistakes him for the Staypuff Marshmallow Man and proton packs his face to death. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ7 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 What does that say? Can't follow links on phone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pedro_de_geordieo Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Nightmare! it seems even SP are sick of him as it is tarnishing their reputation the longer this drags on. What ever happens I think we'll find out today! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Geordie Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Yup - just been reading the Journal piece. I bet Ashley will take us off the market, due to his own greed. I don't know why he won't accept a re-negotiated price as if he keeps us, the value of the club will plummet this coming season, and he'll have to plough in more of his own dosh to keep us going. Greedy wanker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 What does that say? Can't follow links on phone. http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2009/08/07/united-sale-is-on-verge-of-collapse-61634-24337912/ United sale is on verge of collapse Aug 7 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal THE sale of Newcastle United appeared to be on the verge of collapse last night as Mike Ashley prepares to take the club off the market for the second time in less than a year. With talks between Tyneside businessman Barry Moat and Ashley’s camp stuck in a disheartening stalemate, there is a growing sense of desperation surrounding the attempt to sell the club. The Journal understands there have even been attempts to attract fresh interest by offering the club for a down payment of £20m with another £80m due to be paid to Ashley in 12 months’ time. That desperation is reflected in an increasingly exasperated Alan Shearer, who cannot believe the situation remains as shambolic now as it did when Ashley put the club up for sale back in May. Although Seymour Pierce – the bank put in charge of the search for a buyer by United’s owner – are ready to recommend an offer from Tyneside businessman Barry Moat as their preferred bid after months of sluggish negotiations, Ashley remains reluctant to sell for anything less than the £100m he initially asked for. Moat is backed by anonymous American investors, but he has still not put together a package able to satisfy Ashley’s strict financial demands because the club’s wage bill means Newcastle’s operating loss this season could be as high as £30m. That has led to growing tension between Seymour Pierce and the Ashley camp. The bank are convinced they have got the best deal they could in the present financial climate and are frustrated by Ashley’s stubborn stance. That raises the very real possibility of the sale being cancelled after Ashley took a similar step when he could not find a buyer back in December. Sources have already tried to play down Moat’s interest and are privately briefing he does not have enough money to go through with any deal. Moat, though, is continuing to try to break the deadlock and attended a series of meetings with Newcastle’s managing director Derek Llambias yesterday in the hope of reaching a compromise. Those talks will resume this morning. If Moat’s bid is not accepted, it is understood there are no serious alternative bidders. That would force Ashley – who is on holiday in Hawaii – to pull the plug on the sale and look to install a manager as quickly as possible to try to make the best out of the wreckage of the first-team squad which failed to keep the club in the Premier League last season. Who would want such a task remains to be seen and the prospect of Joe Kinnear or David O’Leary taking the helm instead of fans’ favourite Shearer will sicken many already thoroughly disillusioned by this long-running farce. Indeed, Ashley would have to invest some more of his own money to keep the club ticking over financially, while any new manager serious about getting Newcastle back into the top flight will ask for some sort of transfer budget to strengthen a squad which is alarmingly short on cover in every department. Infuriatingly, if Ashley had decided to give it one more year as an owner immediately after relegation in the hope the Magpies will make an instant return to the Premier League, many of those problems could have been remedied by Shearer over the summer. Instead, everyone has been stuck in limbo and the club has been allowed to drift without proper leadership on or off the pitch, with Shearer a frustrated spectator. Newcastle’s manager-in-waiting has been aware of Moat’s interest for several weeks and had remained hopeful throughout the due diligence phase that he would be successful. Moat was the chairman of Shearer’s testimonial committee and had already assured the 38-year-old he would be appointed manager as soon as he received the keys to St James’s Park. Indeed, the former Magpies skipper turned down the manager’s job at Southampton last month as he was confident Moat would eventually complete a takeover at United this summer. That hope is now hanging by a thread with Ashley ready to look elsewhere for a manager as he does not want to give Shearer any assurances regarding transfer budgets and player retention. Meanwhile, Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie has confirmed they are interested in signing Australian striker Mark Viduka following his release by Newcastle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobby_solano Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 *sighs* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 the press know fuck all about what's happening especially thomson house that is what i get from all of the different stories and that 65 million wage bill is now below 50 million after owen, viduka, martins, cacapa, bassong and beye have left, so where they are getting that figure from is beyond me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 We wil be crippled if he keeps hold of the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pedro_de_geordieo Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Yup - just been reading the Journal piece. I bet Ashley will take us off the market, due to his own greed. I don't know why he won't accept a re-negotiated price as if he keeps us, the value of the club will plummet this coming season, and he'll have to plough in more of his own dosh to keep us going. Greedy w*****. I doubt he'll put any of his own money in mate, well not for players or new signings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Yup - just been reading the Journal piece. I bet Ashley will take us off the market, due to his own greed. I don't know why he won't accept a re-negotiated price as if he keeps us, the value of the club will plummet this coming season, and he'll have to plough in more of his own dosh to keep us going. Greedy w*****. I doubt he'll put any of his own money in mate, well not for players or new signings. We won't be signing anyone, but he'll still have to find an absolute fortune for the wages. That is unless he completely decimates the squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToonTastic Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Could of course be the Journal/Chronicle usual opposite stories. Journal says one thing on the morning Chronicle says the opposite, might be all geared for The Chronicle to say it's a done deal this afternoon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ7 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Not a good story in the Journal. At least we know now there has been at least one realistic offer on the table, and unfortunatly like in the winter Ashley is stupidly trying to play hardball and ask for more than the value. Pure stupidity as the value will only go down from now on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToonTastic Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 To be fair we know noubt by that article, still not one quote or anything knew added. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
magpie418 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 http://static.open.salon.com/files/ground-hog-day1233584614.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 I bet he's having a great time in Hawaii like, probably not even noticed the season starts tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
9 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 it says hes only willing to pay 20million now and 80m next year whats that all about, be quite worried if that payment was based on the money we would get from us getting promotion and the money that comes with it edit Ok it dont say that at all ignore me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 it says hes only willing to pay 20million now and 80m next year whats that all about, be quite worried if that payment was based on the money we would get from us getting promotion and the money that comes with it You've read it wrong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenny Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 it says hes only willing to pay 20million now and 80m next year whats that all about, be quite worried if that payment was based on the money we would get from us getting promotion and the money that comes with it Er... I don't think it does, I think it says that Ashley is desperate to get £100m, so to attract more interest he will offer the club for £20m now and £80m in a year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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