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Mike Ashley (former owner)

Disco

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NEEJ

NEEJ

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This has been a year in the making, even longer if we retreat to the winter of 2017-18 and Amanda Staveley’s first attempt to buy Newcastle United. While pandemic and economic turmoil does not appear fertile territory for a takeover, the Mike Ashley era at St James’ Park has never been closer to ending and rarely has it felt more appropriate that it should do so. In every respect, it has been a long time coming.

 

Until now, The Athletic has refrained from written comment on Staveley’s re-emergence as a co-bidder for Newcastle, which was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal in late January. This was not a reflection on the validity of the story, but more a response to the timing. Leaks rarely help and this one certainly didn’t, serving to hoist the drawbridge on discussions and temporarily raising suspicion on both sides.

 

There is chronic takeover fatigue among Newcastle supporters, understandable given that rumours typically emerge close to the transfer window or season-ticket deadline. So many false dawns have broken over Tyneside over the last decade and more. Our policy has been to withhold fuel from the fire until substantive progress has been made and then to offer as much detail as possible.

 

Are we at that stage? Well… almost. But the point has been reached when not writing becomes less helpful than writing. One of the most interesting aspects about The Telegraph’s report that the Premier League has been notified about Staveley’s intention to buy Newcastle (which took place last week) is the outpouring of disbelief and conspiracy theories on social media about Ashley’s desire to deflect bad publicity.

 

So here is context, a bit of it general, some more specific. The biggest of big pictures is that signatures — electronic, presumably, in this era of self-isolation — have not yet been put to the document which, subject to regulatory approval, would transfer Newcastle’s ownership. But rarely, if ever, has there been greater confidence from a number of sources that the printer ink will finally flow.

 

Is cynicism natural? Yes. But this is categorically not an invention of Ashley’s spin doctors — desperate to bury his public apology last week for trying to keep his Sports Direct retail shops open during the coronavirus shutdown — or Newcastle’s failure to offer financial relief to struggling season-ticket holders. Both of those things were something else entirely. It was further weary evidence of why the club needs to reset.

 

It is only when an agreement is formalised and submitted that the Premier League will begin its background checks on Staveley and her group, which also features the Reuben Brothers — one of Britain’s wealthiest families, worth £16.6 billion according to the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List — and, most noteworthy, Saudi Arabia’s investment arm. In turn, they have been informed that the owners’ and directors’ test, which investigates proof of funding and suitability of prospective club custodians, will take up to four weeks to complete.

 

If and when that process begins, there would be no grand announcement, or daily statements about plans and procedure. Until Premier League approval is granted, no significant decisions can be put into effect and so there is little reason to pre-empt them — although with the consent of both sides, preparations for the handover can begin. This may be even more important during a lockdown, when travel and movement are so difficult.

 

In public, there would be a form of limbo, although that will not be a new sensation for anybody. Just as it always has been, the official line from the Premier League is “no comment”. The club, which today placed its non-first-team staff on furlough, never offers the media or their fans guidance on matters like this — including over Rafa Benitez’s future last summer — beyond saying that it is business as usual.

 

This is not a back-of-a-cigarette-packet operation, however. It was last spring that Staveley began the process of assembling this consortium to purchase Newcastle, a painstaking challenge that would have seen others off. Her determination was all the more admirable after the first attempt to pull off a deal (in January 2018) ended in a source close to Ashley telling Sky Sports News that negotiations had proved “exhausting, frustrating and a complete waste of time”.

 

Staveley and her PCP Capital Partners firm were stung by that. In an interview with The Times that month, she detailed the three bids she had made for Newcastle. “This is something we’ve been working really hard on,” she said. “It’s not something we’ve just thrown together. I’m putting a lot of my own capital into this and investors, who come from around the world, include sovereign wealth funds.” Was she a time-waster? “Absurd,” she said. “It’s hurtful.”

 

The Reubens, who were involved back then, are again prominent, and, like PCP, will take a 10 per cent stake in the club if the deal is waved through by the authorities. The rest — 80 per cent — would be controlled by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, a prospect that offers excitement as well as dilemmas. Middle East involvement has revolutionised Manchester City, but there will also be concerns over human-rights violations and “sportswashing”.

 

It has taken months for PIF to commit, but that commitment is now viewed as total, which partially explains the timing. To the question of why anybody would seek to make a multi-million pound acquisition during a public health crisis when the markets are reeling, the answer is that this is not a short-term proposition. They are not buying Newcastle to sell it, but to invest and grow. It is for 10 years’ time, not just now.

 

If you can afford to look at the world like that, then COVID-19 is not such an overwhelming proposition, even if the effects may stretch for months. There is also a thought that Ashley may now be more receptive to selling given the damage done to his firm’s share price, as well as the harm he has suffered to his reputation over recent days. It is said that the price is now considerably less than the £340 million first reported.

 

Ashley has always been described as a difficult seller — and many supporters would replace the word “difficult” with “unwilling”. That is a reflection on a cry-wolf owner who has repeatedly apologised for his mistakes, then repeatedly made new ones. He has officially put the club up for sale on three occasions — September 2008, June 2009 and most recently October 2017 — and twice taken it off the market.

 

Yet perhaps there has been a shift. Perhaps it has taken a while for Ashley to accept that this is for real. He has always been an instinct businessman — buying Newcastle without completing due diligence, spooking Sports Direct investors by taking scattergun positions in other companies — and this has been a laborious enterprise. He does not like information leaking out and he recoils from formality.

 

If this was a normal business, insiders say, a transaction would have been completed weeks ago, but this is an abnormal situation at an abnormal moment. On Staveley’s side, there are three principals, who must each agree any changes to terms and contracts, then put them to their own lawyers. That would be arduous enough with things like due diligence and business plans, but unknowns, such as HMRC’s investigation into Newcastle, multiply the problem.

 

Resolving those issues has taken a lot of time and much hard work, but there are no longer doubts about Ashley’s motivation. There is cordiality on both sides of the negotiating table and mishaps are not anticipated, albeit with the obvious caveat about Ashley’s unpredictability. And what about those “no bid” stories? A matter of semantics; you can make formal bids or you can talk and build your way to an agreement.

 

Those talks have been led by Justin Barnes, Ashley’s lieutenant, and Chris Mort, a lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and a former chairman of Newcastle who is again acting for Staveley, just as he was three years ago. If this is wasting time, then it is also wasting bucket loads of money, which is just one part that has never made sense. PR stunts are not this convoluted or expensive.

 

None of which is to say that a takeover will happen, but there is momentum behind it and a desire to get it done. It is close; close enough to accept as a realistic proposition, if not yet enough for the hashtag #cans to be trending on Twitter (it would be a source of widespread regret if the coronavirus denies the city a celebratory party). Newcastle have ambled down this path before and found their way blocked, but there is substance to this and it merits recording.

 

As to what it might mean for Newcastle? Maybe it is too soon for that, beyond saying that Staveley, her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Jamie Reuben (the son of David and the nephew of Simon) and Yasir Al-Rumayyan (the governor of PIF) would sit on the club’s board, while others have been approached about potential roles within the footballing operation. With so much uncertain, not least how or if the remainder of the season will play out and what, if anything, it might mean for Financial Fair Play, a lot is on hold.

 

Yet Staveley has already hinted in broad brush terms about the kind of club Newcastle may become and how the city may evolve around it: the Reubens have property in the region and the Saudis are receptive to wider investment. “Newcastle has a proper history and a real magic,” she said in her Times interview (a declaration of interest; the interview was with me). “That passion of the fans is vitally important when you’re looking at a club, because you know that you’re a custodian.

 

“I’m also a passionate believer in investment in the north east, because I know it’s tough. A lot of great things are happening in the city — we’ve got friends, like the Reubens, who have invested there — and it’s a real special place, with it’s own identity. It is absolutely unique. This is an investment, but it has to be a long-term investment. Newcastle would be run as a business, but we want it to be a successful, thriving business that is an absolutely integral part of the city.”

 

That concept, that dream, is still intact.

 

 

For fuck's sake, George.

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FrenchWilliam

FrenchWilliam

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The group bidding to take control of Newcastle United are seeking to lower the asking price in light of the huge uncertainty in football because of coronavirus.

 

The Times understands that Newcastle officials have sent paperwork to the Premier League outlining the proposed takeover of the club by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, a move that is seen as significant.

 

Negotiations about finally ending Mike Ashley’s 13 years in charge at St James’ Park began before the emergence of the Covid-19 virus that has ground the Premier League to a complete halt.

 

That has sparked conversations about a ‘reduced price’ in order to facilitate the sale. Ashley has varied the asking price for the north east club in recent years between £300 to £400 million.

 

The initial price that was put forward by PIF was believed to be in the region of £340 million. The figure offered now is thought to have dropped from there, to nearer £300 million.

 

A deal has still to be agreed and there are various stages for the process to go through, but the Premier League receiving details of the proposed bid from Newcastle is the clearest sign yet of Ashley’s renewed intention to sell.

 

It is unknown how hard his Frasers Group and his flagship Sports Direct stores have been hit by the lockdown. Ashley caused a national outrage by attempting to keep his stores open during the UK lockdown, when he claimed they were essential operators because they sold exercise bikes. He apologised for that move on Friday.

 

The PIF bid to take over Newcastle is believed to centre around the sovereign wealth fund taking an 80 per cent stake in the club, with Amanda Staveley and Reuben Brothers possibly taking the other 20 per cent.

 

Staveley was unavailable for comment on Monday. Newcastle also issued ‘no comment’ when approached by The Times to comment on the latest developments in the potential takeover.

 

Staveley failed in her attempted takeover of Newcastle with PCP Capital at the start of 2018, and drew the ire of Ashley, who released a statement criticising the negotiations. It is thought that Ashley is presently out of the country after last week’s controversy.

 

In 2018, Staveley was unable to provide the funding for a takeover of the Premier League club. The same situation happened with the attempted takeover by the former Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon. Those failed talks are believed to have cost Newcastle £1 million in legal fees, a major factor in their continued cautious approach to any potential change of ownership.

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Guest Howaythetoon

Guest Howaythetoon

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Been told this is all done just waiting for the PL to sign it off, expected this week and announced after  :kasper:

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Guest neesy111

Guest neesy111

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Been told this is all done just waiting for the PL to sign it off, expected this week and announced after  :kasper:

 

You've said this before.

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