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Incognito

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More from Caulkin: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-amanda-staveley-a-time-waster-i-dont-know-but-mike-ashley-is-wpqzwj8xk

 

Is Amanda Staveley a time-waster? I don’t know — but Mike Ashley is

new

george caulkin, northern sports correspondent

 

 

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‘Did you get the feel that she’s really genuine?” The question, imperfectly put, arrived by text and it was posed by a former Newcastle United player. It is a question that a lot of people have been asking about Amanda Staveley, the businesswoman who has been attempting to buy the club and who spoke to The Times about it yesterday. It is asked, in part, because Mike Ashley has bent the debate that way.

 

There is no straightforward or definitive answer, but there is a context. Can you ever make a rounded judgment on another human being? Can you base it on three or four hours? With a newspaper deadline approaching, words to write and one eye upon the clock? Of course not. That home, that office, around the corner from Hyde Park, felt substantial — grand, if not ostentatious — but that does not mean very much.

 

Except the room we were talking in — grey, wood-panelled walls — was where Theresa May based her leadership campaign for the Conservative Party. Staveley is not really political, she says, but she has the Prime Minster on speed-dial and counts her as a friend. Does the PM think that Staveley is really genuine? Well, we’ll probably never know one way or the other, but there is some evidence and it looks pretty solid.

 

Staveley has had her genuineness questions regarding her three failed bids for Newcastle United

Staveley has had her genuineness questions regarding her three failed bids for Newcastle United

PA

What of Staveley’s pursuit of Newcastle? “It is only right to let the fans know that there is no deal on the table or even under discussion with Amanda Staveley and PCP,” a source — apparently sanctioned by Ashley — told Sky Sports News this week. “Attempts to reach a deal have proved to be exhausting, frustrating and a complete waste of time.” Staveley countered that. “I’m very much still interested in buying Newcastle,” she said. “And our bid remains on the table.”

 

Another source — or perhaps the same source — told Sky Sports News this morning, “We are not aware of any bid that doesn’t contain relegation clauses and we are not considering any further talks with PCP Capital Partners.” That was interesting, because The Times is fully aware of a £250 million bid — payable in full on completion — made for Newcastle on November 17, which doesn’t contain relegation clauses. And they can consider what they want, but Staveley is not going away.

 

Her three bids are there in black and white and so, too, now, is her vision for the club. Can we make a judgement on that? Perhaps not; not unless or until she buys it and gets on with it, but this is not an idle fantasy. She has held meetings with people that matter in Newcastle, with businesses, bodies and leaders (we have confirmed this, independently). She would invest her own money — a lot of it — but says she is also backed by “sovereign wealth funds”.

 

There is an insidious suggestion that she is flimsy. That she is courting publicity, in spite of this being the only time she has mentioned Newcastle in public. In spite of not doing television. And nobody ever explains why publicity about an attempt to buy a football club which has not (yet) come off makes you look more credible. She would never say this and almost certainly does not believe it, but is it because she is a woman? A woman and photogenic? A woman in football?

 

Ashley has lurched from one PR disaster to another during his 11 years at Newcastle

Ashley has lurched from one PR disaster to another during his 11 years at Newcastle

DOMINIC LIPINSKI/PA WIRE

But there is another point, too, because some judgement does not have to be deferred. A time-waster? You might argue that Ashley has wasted the past 11 years. Two relegations? Yet another skirmish with it now? A horrific record in the cups? The renaming of the ground, the employment of Joe Kinnear, the abysmal treatment of legends and good men such as Kevin Keegan, Alan Shearer, Chris Hughton? A club that makes less money, commercially, than a decade ago? All that time. All that waste.

 

Exhausting and frustrating? Like the last three transfer windows? Like Rafa Benitez warning that Newcastle would be in trouble if they did not strengthen last summer and Newcastle not strengthening and then being in trouble? Frustrating like their inability to put two good decisions together?

 

Frustrating like the knowledge that Benitez arrived speaking about Newcastle in terms of history, stature and potential, since when he has repeatedly been confronted by the smallness of their behaviour. It feels like an endless list: Jonas Gutierrez, HMRC, Wonga, written warnings to managers for talking about transfers, the truncation of ambition, the 52,000 souls who troop to matches with their yearning deadened, hope flickering only because of Benitez.

 

I do not know Amanda Staveley, but I’ve met her and I’ve talked to her and that’s better than nothing. I don’t know Mike Ashley, either, and the only way I’ve got in front of him was by buying shares in Sports Direct (with my money, not the paper’s), and asking questions at an AGM, one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. I cannot judge Staveley, but I will judge Ashley and I do. Ask yourself the question: do you get the feel that he’s really genuine?

Caulkin is the master where NE football is concerned. Peerless.
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Interpolic

Interpolic

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More from Caulkin: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-amanda-staveley-a-time-waster-i-dont-know-but-mike-ashley-is-wpqzwj8xk

 

Is Amanda Staveley a time-waster? I don’t know — but Mike Ashley is

new

george caulkin, northern sports correspondent

 

 

Share

Save

‘Did you get the feel that she’s really genuine?” The question, imperfectly put, arrived by text and it was posed by a former Newcastle United player. It is a question that a lot of people have been asking about Amanda Staveley, the businesswoman who has been attempting to buy the club and who spoke to The Times about it yesterday. It is asked, in part, because Mike Ashley has bent the debate that way.

 

There is no straightforward or definitive answer, but there is a context. Can you ever make a rounded judgment on another human being? Can you base it on three or four hours? With a newspaper deadline approaching, words to write and one eye upon the clock? Of course not. That home, that office, around the corner from Hyde Park, felt substantial — grand, if not ostentatious — but that does not mean very much.

 

Except the room we were talking in — grey, wood-panelled walls — was where Theresa May based her leadership campaign for the Conservative Party. Staveley is not really political, she says, but she has the Prime Minster on speed-dial and counts her as a friend. Does the PM think that Staveley is really genuine? Well, we’ll probably never know one way or the other, but there is some evidence and it looks pretty solid.

 

Staveley has had her genuineness questions regarding her three failed bids for Newcastle United

Staveley has had her genuineness questions regarding her three failed bids for Newcastle United

PA

What of Staveley’s pursuit of Newcastle? “It is only right to let the fans know that there is no deal on the table or even under discussion with Amanda Staveley and PCP,” a source — apparently sanctioned by Ashley — told Sky Sports News this week. “Attempts to reach a deal have proved to be exhausting, frustrating and a complete waste of time.” Staveley countered that. “I’m very much still interested in buying Newcastle,” she said. “And our bid remains on the table.”

 

Another source — or perhaps the same source — told Sky Sports News this morning, “We are not aware of any bid that doesn’t contain relegation clauses and we are not considering any further talks with PCP Capital Partners.” That was interesting, because The Times is fully aware of a £250 million bid — payable in full on completion — made for Newcastle on November 17, which doesn’t contain relegation clauses. And they can consider what they want, but Staveley is not going away.

 

Her three bids are there in black and white and so, too, now, is her vision for the club. Can we make a judgement on that? Perhaps not; not unless or until she buys it and gets on with it, but this is not an idle fantasy. She has held meetings with people that matter in Newcastle, with businesses, bodies and leaders (we have confirmed this, independently). She would invest her own money — a lot of it — but says she is also backed by “sovereign wealth funds”.

 

There is an insidious suggestion that she is flimsy. That she is courting publicity, in spite of this being the only time she has mentioned Newcastle in public. In spite of not doing television. And nobody ever explains why publicity about an attempt to buy a football club which has not (yet) come off makes you look more credible. She would never say this and almost certainly does not believe it, but is it because she is a woman? A woman and photogenic? A woman in football?

 

Ashley has lurched from one PR disaster to another during his 11 years at Newcastle

Ashley has lurched from one PR disaster to another during his 11 years at Newcastle

DOMINIC LIPINSKI/PA WIRE

But there is another point, too, because some judgement does not have to be deferred. A time-waster? You might argue that Ashley has wasted the past 11 years. Two relegations? Yet another skirmish with it now? A horrific record in the cups? The renaming of the ground, the employment of Joe Kinnear, the abysmal treatment of legends and good men such as Kevin Keegan, Alan Shearer, Chris Hughton? A club that makes less money, commercially, than a decade ago? All that time. All that waste.

 

Exhausting and frustrating? Like the last three transfer windows? Like Rafa Benitez warning that Newcastle would be in trouble if they did not strengthen last summer and Newcastle not strengthening and then being in trouble? Frustrating like their inability to put two good decisions together?

 

Frustrating like the knowledge that Benitez arrived speaking about Newcastle in terms of history, stature and potential, since when he has repeatedly been confronted by the smallness of their behaviour. It feels like an endless list: Jonas Gutierrez, HMRC, Wonga, written warnings to managers for talking about transfers, the truncation of ambition, the 52,000 souls who troop to matches with their yearning deadened, hope flickering only because of Benitez.

 

I do not know Amanda Staveley, but I’ve met her and I’ve talked to her and that’s better than nothing. I don’t know Mike Ashley, either, and the only way I’ve got in front of him was by buying shares in Sports Direct (with my money, not the paper’s), and asking questions at an AGM, one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. I cannot judge Staveley, but I will judge Ashley and I do. Ask yourself the question: do you get the feel that he’s really genuine?

Caulkin is the master where NE football is concerned. Peerless.

 

:thup: It really is a cracking little article, that one.

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Nobody

Nobody

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Very professional from the Ashley camp to claim that they are not aware of the £250m up front bid :lol: Like they've just missed that e-mail coming in or something. Nothing stopping Staveley and PCP to just submit the bid again if they've missed it, forcing them to actually reject it, making them look really stupid again.

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Guest reefatoon

Guest reefatoon

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Very professional from the Ashley camp to claim that they are not aware of the £250m up front bid :lol: Like they've just missed that e-mail coming in or something. Nothing stopping Staveley and PCP to just submit the bid again if they've missed it, forcing them to actually reject it, making them look really stupid again.

 

It's hidden under a giant pizza box.

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TRon

TRon

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What's Ashley's game man??  :rolleyes:

 

Get up at 11...Full English...Go to pub at 1.00 get pissed (make some 'business calls') - Curry at 8.00 - back to pub - come home at 12. Repeat.

 

It's a good life for the rich and obnoxious. :lol:

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TRon

TRon

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This is starting to sound a lot like the campaign to free Newcastle from McKeag led by John Hall in the old days. That was an umbrella group as well called the Magpie Group, and McKeag was another small time big shot who thought Newcastle Utd was his private plaything. If only the Chronicle would get behind Stavely like they did the Magpie Group.

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HaydnNUFC

HaydnNUFC

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This is starting to sound a lot like the campaign to free Newcastle from McKeag led by John Hall in the old days. That was an umbrella group as well called the Magpie Group, and McKeag was another small time big shot who thought Newcastle Utd was his private plaything. If only the Chronicle would get behind Stavely like they did the Magpie Group.

Might tweet Douglas later and tell him to like they did back then. So what if they get banned.
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Optimistic Nut

Optimistic Nut

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What's Ashley's game man??  :rolleyes:

 

Get up at 11...Full English...and I think about leaving the house (Parklife) Go to pub at 1.00 get p*ssed (make some 'business calls') - Curry at 8.00 (Parklife) - back to pub - come home at 12. Repeat. Safe in the knowledge I don't give a fuck.

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