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Mike Ashley (former owner)


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Luke Edwards now saying that the club is on the verge of being sold... wish these cunts would make up their minds.

 

eh :lol: none of them know anything, are they supposed to just make a decision on whether it'll be sold and stick with it regardless?

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Luke Edwards now saying that the club is on the verge of being sold... wish these cunts would make up their minds.

 

That doesn't sound like he's changed tune :lol:

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Here's Edwards' article FWIW...

 

Newcastle United have been here too many times for anyone to believe it is actually going to happen, but the club is on the verge of being sold by Mike Ashley, bringing an end to one of the most divisive ownership reigns in English football.

 

Whether the new owner will be the Abu Dhabi-based Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan remains to be seen, but, crucially, nobody at the club has denied they have been speaking to him.

 

Neither has the Premier League done anything to deny suggestions that talks were advanced enough for them to have been informed of an impending takeover.

 

According to several reports in the Middle East from people claiming to be in contact with the Sheikh, a £350 million deal is all but done and the new owner will be confirmed within days. Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan is from the same family as Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour and has promised to keep manager Rafa Benitez and provide money to improve the squad in this summer’s transfer window.

 

This, though, has been denied by those closer to the club, who insist nothing has been finalised, even if the official public line is one of a stubborn “no comment”.

 

Privately, senior figures at Newcastle were as surprised as anyone to learn the club was on the verge of being sold on Sunday night and have been trying to seek clarification from Ashley before they make any official comment.

 

That will inevitably raise fears that this is just another false dawn, with all the claims and counter claims reminiscent of so many previously unsuccessful takeover attempts at St James’ Park.

 

Ashley has tried and failed to sell Newcastle several times since he bought it for around £140m from former owners Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd in 2007. Some have even questioned whether he has ever been serious about selling given his persistent inability to find a buyer.

 

The first aborted attempt came in 2008, shortly after Kevin Keegan had resigned as manager in protest at boardroom interference in recruitment.

 

Ashley also put the club on the market for just £100m in the summer of 2009, following relegation to the Championship. On both occasions, there were strong reports a sale was close to being agreed, only for the talks to collapse and Ashley to remain at the helm.

 

The club was put up for sale again two years ago and once more deals were supposedly in place for him to sell. Financier Amanda Staveley claimed she was close to completing a takeover in December 2017 only for Ashley to dismiss her attempt as a “complete waste of time” a few weeks later.

 

More recently, former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon announced he was trying to buy the club, but although he was given access to the date room to carry out due diligence before Christmas, a bid never materialised.

 

In theory, Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan would have no problem raising the money to meet the asking price given it is believed he has access to more than one billion pounds of funds, but, like Staveley, he has previously failed in a bid to buy Liverpool, with the Merseyside club pulling out of talks in August last year when he was unable to provide proof of funds or pay a £25m deposit.

 

Crucially, though, the Sheikh is not the only interested party who has been locked in negotiations with Ashley, which increases the chances of a successful takeover taking place.

 

Telegraph Sport has been aware of talks taking place under strict rules of secrecy for some time. Interestingly, Ashley insisted he would walk away from any deal if details were leaked before an agreement was in place, as he was tired of people using the club to boost their profile.

 

Despite the flurry of reports in the last 24 hours insisting that Newcastle have found a new owner, at least one of these groups remains confident they can still get a deal done.

 

Indeed, sources close to the leading figures have reacted with scepticism to claims Al Nehayan has beat them to it, with two well-placed figures dismissing claims Ashley has sold the club as “bulls***” and “complete b*******.”

 

That is neither helpful or particularly illuminating, but it does shine a light on the confusion that has engulfed the club since the claims were first made on Sunday.

 

Newcastle supporters are desperate for confirmation Al Nehayan has seized control, but nobody will allow themselves to believe it until it happens. History tells them to resist excitement when takeovers are mentioned.

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Ive managed to switch off and pay no attention to the club lately just seen this.

 

Anyone fancy giving a quick summary of what the fuck is going on?

 

Does it seem like another pretend sale? Or does it actually look real this time?

 

Looks plausible atm, my subjective reason for thinking this being:

 

- Someone on here said half a season ago that they'd heard from someone close to the club that a sale to an Arab buyer was likely/agreed in principle if NUFC remained within the PL.

- Mike Ashley has taken a huge hit on Debenhams, he's having problems with landlords who aren't taking his shit re: House of Fraser, SD shares have absolutely tanked compared to 5 years ago, he's sold and leased back SD's home to inject capital into the business. Looks like he has alot on financially and selling NUFC would free up cash and time for him to focus on his main love which is retailing tat to charvers.

- The Sheikh who has allegedly bought us tried to buy Liverpool last summer for £2bn. For £350m and with serious investment NUFC makes total sense - decent stadium, huge fanbase, large catchment area, world class manager already in charge. How much money would it even take to catch up to a team like Spurs or Arsenal? Certainly a hell of a lot less than £1.65bn (the difference between buying us and buying Liverpool), especially with Rafa in charge.

- On the Rafa contract front things have been are eerily quiet, unusually so. We know for a fact Rafa has been meeting with Ashley for a few days so to not hear anything is strange. This is Mike Ashley, if he wanted rid of Rafa he'd be giving him the cold shoulder and would not bother speaking to him let alone meeting with him.

- Rafa not saying anything when normally he'd be laying his cards out on the table in the media to put pressure on a Board - it indicates something is up...almost like the club is on the verge of being sold and there's NDAs in place meaning Rafa has to keep stum.

- Yesterday the Sun claimed NUFC had already been sold.

- Yesterday a host of one of the Middle East sports channels, someone with supposed links to the Emirati royal family, tweeted that the sale has been agreed.

 

All makes sense. Obviously could all be nothing too.

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They haven’t a clue what’s going on. And all the stuff from the Middle East on Twitter is the same as anything. It’s trending over there so anyone with a tick beside their name will be commenting on it.

 

I think at this point if it was bullshit, someone would have come out and said so.

 

I just wonder what conditions Ashley has insisted on. Sports Direct being advertised for another year will be nailed on.

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