There have been many reports since Tuesday that a South African consortium has bid £300M for Newcastle United, with another £100M set aside for players and improvements at the club.
Johann Rupert - pictured in Scotland recently - and needing a shave
However, one of the South African businessmen thought to be involved in the bid, billionaire Johann Rupert of the famous Rupert family, insists he has no interest and no knowledge of any proposed bid.
Jonathan Cleland was said to be a spokesman for the group, and he revealed only recently he was 80% confident the deal would go through and Kevin Keegan would return to manage the club.
However, Cleland did not disclose who the businessmen were, so we suppose it’s still possible what he is saying is true.
Rupert however denied all knowledge of the reported takeover, and told BBC Radio 5 Live:
“I have never met Mr Cleland, never spoken to him on the phone and my secretary does not have a record of him calling.”
“I haven’t spoken to any of the other parties either. I don’t know Mr Cleland, I have a preference for cricket and rugby. I don’t know anything about football and I’m not a football man.“I think it is a bit naughty.”
“They use your name, you deny it - it is a total joke.”
Oh well, we now wonder if this is just a huge smokescreen.
A number of our readers have suggested the real deal is going on, but we just yet don’t know yet who the group is, and it could well be the consortium that does eventually buy Newcastle, has not yet been identified by the press.
That might even be a good thing.
Comments welcome.
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65 responses so far ↓
1 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:28
First whooo
2 mozza // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:28
just hope something gets sorted out sooner rather than later, the uncertainty of who is gona take over is making me edgy as hell
3 Yorkie dave // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:40
just listened to the now famous joe kinnear interview and even though im not excited by his appointment i will say what a level headed straight talking guy he is! im sure hes been on this blog cos what he says about the press to their faces is what we are all thinking. i think he will do ok for us but the club just needs to be sold and keegan back!
4 Dondatta13 // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:40
Is that mad Mick from Wolf Creek or what ? lol
5 surey // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:46
Just seal the deal and bring back KK FGS
6 bill // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:48
Who suggested that this guy was part of the consortium in the first place; as usual, the media. It is typical of their tactics; they start the story, and then get it refuted; it’s just a game to them. They don’t know who these people are so they guess and then keep the story rolling. It is pathetic.
7 mozza // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:56
agree bill the medias worse than useless and this year they’ve been at their worst level ever as far as the toon is concerned
8 Punk Skunk // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:59
More press BS!..
…They don’t know what they’re doin’…
…Repeat ad nauseum…Like they do!..
…Please direct any further boycotts at the press!..You know it makes sense!..
…Toon, Toon!..
9 Charlie // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:02
I’d like a
………….Given
Geremi. Collo.Bassong….Enrique
Duff….Butt…..Guthrie…Zogbia
..Owen…xisco
Its a shame Shola will be starting though as that means we are a man down. Aparrently its his last chance. How many managers have said that over the years?
10 mozza // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:04
already have punk m8, that includes the local rags as well, of out now anyway, laters
11 Punk Skunk // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:09
Right on mozza,
me too!..
…Later mate!..
12 clinta // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:09
Yawn… another spineless news report regarding the sale of our club that everyones gone and jumped on, first Indianas, than Arab, Chinese, South Africans..? did I miss anyone? well i’m sure they’ll be a few more tall stories before we eventually get sold.
Whose next I wonder?
Goat herders from Mongolia?
It’s comical to me that at the hint of any old new bollocks fans and blog owners alike are jumping up and down ‘god i hope it happens- buy us now!’
with not knowing the slightest thing about these potential buyers, there wealth or there aims and goals for the club.
I just hope at the end of all this hugely self inflicted chaos we can get an owner in who has some of the ideas and long term goals which the guy thats getting kick out the back door had, but of course with a few less mistakes and a better concept of communication.
13 Ganiyu // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:24
O my god not again
14 Gordon // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:27
@ clinta - spineliness news report?!
His supposed representative went and spoke to the press about the interest - that shouldn’t be reported?
It’s clearly a false bid and we have to move on.
And even if it wasn’t I wouldn’t want a potential owner who lied about his intentions.
15 Nick // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:28
Bill’s right no one suggested Rupert was part of tbe consortium. Just more mischief making
16 clinta // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:32
err….? gordon, i wasn’t saying I want the guy in mate? I was basicly saying that i’ll wait and see some real evidence etc.. before getting all excited over a potential owner, especially when we havent even heard what he/they plan for our club?!
17 Ganiyu // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:33
Everton lost 3home games which is a good news to me.
18 bill // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:34
If Joe Kinnear is telling the truth, then there are several people, consortiums, etc, looking at purchasing the club. I don’t see what he will gain from lying about it. The point is, any potential investor will want to do this in private. Going from past experience with Mike Ashley secrecy is no problem. In the past we used to get all sorts of leaks when the Hall’s and Fat Fred were there but as we all know Ashley’s lot don’t tell the press very much at all.
In this case it is the best thing that could happen but the press want something to write so they just make it up as they go along. I know that we are kept in the dark but we just have to be patient, and with any luck the club will be sold to someone who cares about football and the fans.
19 Ganiyu // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:39
Arsenal nigeria
20 ObaFan2 // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:51
Ashley leaks what he wants to leak like his meeting with KK the other Friday night.
If this guy is lying, KK could come out and say he never met with him in Manchester as Jonathan Cleland claims.
The press is rubbish, atleast we have the internet.
21 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:51
If JK does well during his time as manager here and KK or who ever comes in as permerant manager , who is in favour of keeping JK at the club in some respected role? Lets see a show or hands for and against people.
22 Spyro - Taylor is garbage // Oct 4, 2008 at 13:57
Can somebody please assassinate Shola and Taylor? Thanks
23 Ian // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:03
Joe telling the truth? If Ashley told the truth to Joe it would be the first time as Sam and KK appear to have been fed rubbish too.
24 Gordon // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:12
“The press is rubbish, at least we have the internet.”
ROFL - that’s brilliant!
I hope it was meant to be sarcadtic, I’m putting it in my signature
25 neeraj // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:14
this guy is not coming to buy our club, that’s for sure he can’t make a u-turn on his statement abt not buying….
it’s simple ashley has been using the media, all this time and made jo ke as temp manager, just to show that he is leaving…
ashley isn’t leaving……
he is just waiting for couple of wins in the mont of october and hopes the keegan saga would end and ould either appoint a new manager or continue with joe kiner
26 robertsa // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:28
in january we shud:
sell owen +7 million
sell taylor+4 million
sell nzogbia+4million
sell smith +3 million
sell ameobi + 2million
sell viduka +0.5 million
sell cacapa +0.5 million
sell geremi +1million
sell edgar + 1million
9 players out
total + 23million
buy curtis davies -9million
buy heskey -1million
buy gonzalez permanently -2million
buy beckford -1million
buy lucas -7million
buy hobbs-o.5 million
buy hammill-0.5 million
buy delap - o.5 million
buy christinaval-0.5 million
buy sahin -1 million
10 players in
total - 23 million
one extra player and, technically no money spent and this team looks decent:
—————given—————-
beye——collcocini —–davies
——-butt————lucas——–
gutierez —-barton—-gonzalez
———–xisco-martins———-
subs: heskey.bassong.guthrie.duff. harper.sahin.beckford.
extra possible subs: carroll, delap, chritinaval, hammill, hobbs, doninger, ranger, danquah, kadar, zamblera, donaldson.
that shud keep us up.
27 bill // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:32
We could speculate all day every day about Mike Ashley’s motives in buying Newcastle, but I do now believe that he wants to sell the club. The statement about potential buyers was mentioned by other sources other than Joe Kinnear. I believe a statement was issued that said that financial details had been sent out to seven potential purchasers. Of course, it’s difficult to know what the truth of it is. As I said before, we shall just have to be patient.
28 nufc supporter // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:38
robertsa, tht is a disgraceful team u hav just picked, y dont u not sell owen in ur dreamland, hope he signs a new contract. the only transfer in i wud agree with is heskey, mainly because owen and heskey can work together really well, nd i wud luv to hav zaki as well, and taylor is good, th only thing wrong with him is he makes too many mistakes, but remember, he is only 21 years old, and still has another 15-16 years to get it ryt, by then he will b a very good defender
29 Ian // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:38
agreed Bill.
If it isnt sold by January then Ashley has a huge problem on his hands which could only be solved by an awful lot of spending which we know he wont do. He could be about to lose £150m ish if he gets this wrong.
30 MarK // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:40
urgh anyone read that kinnear is thinking about starting ameobi 2moro =/
31 JJ // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:43
Robertsa = clueless manager…
I’ve said one hundred times, Anton Rupert will not be interested…
But there are many other wealthy businessman in SOuth Africa…
Patrice Motsepe is stinking rich and already owns a club in the South African premier league called Sundowns…
He seems a likely candidate for a bid and would make a good owner… he is not scared to invest in the squad…
He has BEE shares (Black Economic Empowerment shares) in a number of large companies in South Africa…
32 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:44
NUFC supporter has a point about Taylor people are using him as a scape goat at but i cant deny has last coupla matchs have been poor he is quaility player all round and he is a young lad he will mature into a quaility defender esp with some one like Colo to nuture his progress
33 Gordon // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:45
@nufc supporter
“he is only 21 years old, and still has another 15-16 years to get it ryt, by then he will b a very good defender”
I don’t want to wait until Taylor is 36 / 37 year old to get it right!
34 Gordon // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:46
@Robertsa - agree with others’ comments.
That is probably the worst Newcastle fan team, formation and set of transfers I’ve ever seen posted in a forum!
SAFC fan?
35 Rasko a.k.a Hadji // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:50
Ganuyu…..
Cercle Brugge-Standard Liege……..Standard win
Leixoes-Benfica……Benfica win
Siena-Roma…………Roma win
Everton-Newcastle…….Draw
Manchester City-Liverpool…..Liverpool win
Energie Cottbus-Hamburg….Hamburg win
Dont put too much money on this one
36 JJ // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:51
Motsepe is worth about the same as Ashley… not saying its him or he is involved but interesting to speculate…
37 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:53
RE:- Robertsa. You cant be serious with that team. I know people have to be relistic with which players who they would like to see in the club but you have to be a mackem or a spud posting your blog entry from the loonie bin or could you be Dennis Wise in disguise?
38 Rasko a.k.a Hadji // Oct 4, 2008 at 14:55
As you can see Ganiyu,i always prefer the away teams.
Homeground means nothing to me….only extra pressure for the home team.
39 JJ // Oct 4, 2008 at 15:16
We wont sign another striker now that we have Xisco, unless we are forced to sell Owen. In which case we could afford the wages to get Zaki to come over perhaps. Zaki and Martins up front.
What we desperately need is someone who can cover in full back positions.
My choice would be:
Vasilis Torosidis (RB) (4mil)
Emiliano Insua (LB) (loan)
Then I might get slated for this, but our midfield lacks power and drive without Barton so I would try get in:
Kevin Nolan (CM) 8Mil (yes I think he is worth it… hes always in the right place… strong box to box and passes and headers well… plus he is tall)
Then I would bring in a utility creative midfielder who can play across the park:
Sung ji Park (5Mil) (AM/L/R)
or Ibrahim Affellay (6Mil) (AM/L/R/C)
Sell:
Smith (4Mil)
Ameobi (1Mil)
Butt (1 Mil)
Total spent: About (12 mil net)
Squad would look something like this:
————————-Given—————————-
Beye———-Bassong—–Coloccini——-Enrique
Park———–Barton——–Nolan———-Jonas
—————–Owen———-Martins—————
Subs: Harper, Torosidis, Taylor, Guthrie, Zogbia, Duff, Xisco, Viduka, Geremi etc…
40 robertsa // Oct 4, 2008 at 15:29
jj u think im clueless.
if we dont sell owen he will go for free at the end of the season.
bassong = hopeless
park= no chance
nolan= no chance
enrique hopeless.
41 robertsa // Oct 4, 2008 at 15:35
wake up lads the toon r shite.
the only players we can bring in are clueless foreigners, 30 year old has beens, and championship quality players.
unless keagen has sense to get a proper defence we r fuked. by that I mean get rid of the young lads that dont no what they are doing. get rid of the pencheners get defnders in their prime.
in a nice world thats what id have
beye collocini laursen cole
but that wont happen becos who wants to play for us? no-one
42 nufc supporter // Oct 4, 2008 at 15:43
@ Gordan
i didnt mean u will hav to w8 till he is 36-37, wht i mean is before he retires, he will b a very gud footballer, im happy to w8 another 2-3 years to see if hes improved, and he will if he plays alongside coloccini, and has to defend against martins and owen in trainin, if KK comes bak (which im undecided on), then KK will teach him things, u cud see under KK that taylor was improving, and now tht he has left, his form has dropped, he just needs consistency and to learn from coloccini, lyk HAMMY 14 sed, u shudnt make him a scape goat, and u shudnt slate him off just coz he makes a couple of silly mistakes, and if u only judge him from wht u see on match of the day, then ur stupid coz if u watch the whole match u wud see tht he makes sum gud blocks and gud tackles
lyk i sed, u shudnt make him a scape goat, it is the teams fault we concede goals, not just taylors, the midfielders need to track back more (learn from gutierrez on this) and the midfielders need to work harder and actually learn to cross (geremi)
so stop slating off taylor, he still has another 15-16 years to get it ryt and if he dusnt, then we can all say he woznt a good enuff defender for the prm league, and im not sayin it will take another 15-16 years to get it ryt, as i believe he will become a quality defender and move to bigger clubs, but it will only take him another 2-3 years to get it ryt, maybe even less, all of u shudnt forget his age, he still has things to learn, and this is the premiership, he is playin against some of the best players, especially strikers, in the world, like the likes of rooney, berbatov, tevez, torres, drogba, anelka, kalou, etc….
lets stop critizing inividual players, coz it is the teams fault we r losin, they are payed to perform, and their not, the only person whos actually botherin is probs owen and duff, and obviously gutierrez once he comes bak, all of the players’ performances hav dropped since KK left, and we need a manager, if not KK, to come in, build up their confidence and start gettin results for us, and hopefully with new owners, we can sell th likes of smith, ameobi and geremi, and bring in some good players, because lets face it, we cant bring in quality BIG name players anymore, so we shud aim for the likes of heskey, zaki, nolan and some players from big clubs who arent gettin enuff games, lyk jonny evans, kalou, malouda, lucas etc…
43 nufc supporter // Oct 4, 2008 at 15:47
@ robertsa
bassong and enrique are not clueless, enrique is a decent player and if u remember last season KK could not play him coz he was not used to the premiership due to the fact it is fast paced, and if u remember KK sayin he lost quite alot of weight and gotten much fitter, KK played him alot more and had some decent games for us
And bassong, we hav just bought him and with the games he has played, he has been a good buy for us, lyk i sed in the post above, we cant attract big name stars to our club anymore, so we shud find and buy some young unfound talent, and we hav in the likes of gutierrez, bassong and guthrie (even though ppl alredy knew about guthrie from bolton)
44 canada willie // Oct 4, 2008 at 15:51
Ashley is obviously using Kinnear to put out rumours about interested bidders which increases interest and bids up the price. He is clever negotiating through the press.
The reality is that anyone bidding 300 million is just plain stupid as they will still have to spend another 50 to 100 miilion pounds on new players just to stay up.
If the club is actually making a profit of only a few million, which I doubt based on last years results, this would be a ridiculous price to pay.
For this reason I dont think Jonathan Cleland knows what he is talking about. I have no confidence in these people.
Ashley will get 200 million if he is lucky.
45 JJ // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:02
Robertsa
Why would we have no for Nolan, he plays for Bolton… one of the few teams more likely to get relegated than us…
Park might leave for regular football… and Bassong and Enrique are far from useless…
Your side has no Fullbacks and no wingers????
You say no chance for Nolan yet you put Curtis Davies in your list who has JUST signed for Aston Villa. (He’ d never come)…
46 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:07
@ nufc supporter. Here here mate. when goals are condcided it not just the def fault and taylor will be a quailty player with age do people remember when he was called into the England squad if it wasnt for England having been blessed with defenders i reckon Taylor would be having a good shout in getting in.
47 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:09
@ comments towards Robertsa. People Robertsa is just Dennis Wise in disguise on here or that he is a mackem or a spud posting his comments on here from the loonie bin
48 Turkish magpie // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:13
at robertsa no way we need to keep evry1 and see how much the new owners will spend and then in summer sell ameobind a few others
keep owen
keep viduka
keep smith
Keep nzogbia
keep taylor
all these will do well and viduka and owen can play well until they retire
smith will be gud soon
49 GeordieGraham // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:20
Areet every1. do any of yous have fifa 09 for ps3. off topic ana… just wonderin.
50 JJ // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:33
Turkish Magpie?
When was Smith ever good?
51 Turkish magpie // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:37
my buys and sales for summer
in:
Arda Turan
Rory Du Lap
Aaron Lennon
Kevin Nolan
Colin Kazim Richards(young and amzing)
Juan Arango
Nacho Gonzalaz(permanant)
out:
Ameobi
cacapa
geremi
Edgar
butt
if we start doin well and keegan is here owen will stay!
52 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:50
@ Turkish Magpie. I agree with Arda Turan he is class like and Aaron Lennon aswell. If we do get taken over and have sqillions to spend i pay anything Aston Villa want to get Milner back since he has gone we have lost so much dimension since he left
53 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 16:52
@ Turkish Magpie. I forgot to mention i agree with you about Owen staying. No one will play him as much as we do and no one will pay him as much as we do
54 Piers // Oct 4, 2008 at 17:49
I agree……these loses just emphasis how important Milner was to our team.
If we keep losing we will be forced into selling Owen before the end of the season…end of discussion
Lastly I hope this SA consortium is not a hoax but if it is we need move on and get behind the team…..It’s out of our hands so lets wait and see how it plays out….As for now GO TOON!!
55 micepie // Oct 4, 2008 at 18:11
robertasa, it would take a minor miracle to sell 7 players and buy 10 in January. In fact, it’s probably impossible, Also, it would be totally foolish because we want to cultivate stability, not stupidity!
56 Dan13 // Oct 4, 2008 at 18:19
Geordie Graham I do
feel free to add me
DIXIE93 <<<PSN
57 GeordieGraham // Oct 4, 2008 at 18:29
will do. mine is djohnstonO8
58 robertsa // Oct 4, 2008 at 19:01
yes lads i am denis wise. and i must say ur club is useless.
59 HAMMY14 // Oct 4, 2008 at 19:03
@Robertsa why you even on here then? Why are you here to cause trouble you mackem?
60 JJ // Oct 4, 2008 at 19:14
Well then mate… learn how to spell your name:
Dennis has two “n”s…
61 robertsa // Oct 4, 2008 at 19:15
oh insulting me becos i support a better club. draw agenst arsenal today for us black cats. newcastle lost 3-0 agenst arsenal i believe.
62 robertsa // Oct 4, 2008 at 19:16
it called text talk jj. its quicker. div.
63 james L // Oct 4, 2008 at 19:17
W E
64 Dan13 // Oct 4, 2008 at 19:33
he’s joking
he’s been on here for aaaaaages
65 jettson // Oct 4, 2008 at 20:45
did someone not say on here that any consortium had to sign a confidentiality clause?? if thats th e case then these very rich south africans are going to say that they know nothing about it!! lets just give it time and see what happens
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