It certainly seems that most of the big Premier league clubs will soon be in foreign hands.
Mike Ashley - Newcastle owner selling to foreign investors
While it would be good if we had some Geordie Billionaires to buy the club, it seems there are not too many of them around, and it’s a certainty that Newcastle will be sold to foreign owners.
Mike Ashley was one of the few English billionaires who was interested in buying a club, but Mike wanted to restrict his investment each year to £20M. That wouldn’t have been too bad, but the found the club in more debt than he realized, after failing to do the normal due diligence and had to pump £100M in, to reduce that debt.
It seems like that curtailed the spending on new players, and in the summer our net outlay was less than £2M, nowhere near the £20M he had allocated.
Keith Harris, a former chairman of the Football League, and now Executive Chairman at Seymour Pierce investment bank said that Newcastle are certainly attracting interest:
“Newcastle are a huge iconic brand and we are attracting interest.”
“I think if there is going to be an investor it probably won’t come from England unless we uncover a trillionaire Geordie who wants to buy it.”
Newcastle being a huge iconic brand may shock some local Newcastle supporters but that old saying “wherever you go you’re bound to meet a Geordie” is so true - and usually of course they are fanatic Newcastle supporters of course.
Newcastle is a bigger global brand than we may realize and Kevin Keegan in the 1990s had something to do with that, as he made Newcastle one of the best teams to watch in England.
In the last week or so things have gone rather quiet, and of course the worldwide credit crunch will not be helping things, but the club must be sold before the January transfer window opens, so we can strengthen our squad, which is just far too small, but full of quality.
Comments welcome.
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28 responses so far ↓
1 beyethegreat // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:29
we will be sold soon hopefully
2 Gregory // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:41
Keegan is a fool.. Hope the new owners don’t put him back in place, because apparantly his ego is far bigger than the love for this club.
3 ronaldeano // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:47
@Gregory, YOU are the fool son
4 Nick 69 // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:49
yes u are a fool gregory
5 Macas // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:49
That ‘fool’ stopped us getting relegated to the old second division, and led us to near the top of the Premiership, playing some great football along the way.
6 Nick C // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:53
I don’t like that word “IF”
It seems it is not exactly a fait accompli regarding our prospective sale.
To move forward we need MA gone.
7 beyethegreat // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:58
keegan is anything but a fool
8 Micky Toon // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:03
Macas that was in the past, we need to stop living in the past and reflecting on past glories.
After reading the statement on a buyer being hard to find due to the current economic climate and now this, I think they are struggling to sell the club. This statement is obviously massive spin that has been put out to try and generate some positive feeling around the club and the area.
Only the oil rich arabs and russians are immune to this “credit crunch” so any buyer who is going to invest heavily in the club is going to have to come from those areas.
9 Nobby'sDad // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05
We don’t want the new owners to be people who rely on borrowing money. If Ashely just cuts his price he’ll sell…..if he doesn’t we could go down as he’s stated he’ll not buy any players in January and Owen will leave. Hard times ahead!
10 Irish John // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:06
Gregory talking boll*x
11 Macas // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:06
Micky Toon - I was simply showing that Keegan is anything but a fool. Some people on these boards tend to show him very little respect, when in fact he is our greatest manager of recent times.
12 Micky Toon // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:06
Forgot to say all of this talk about generating a lot of interest and having 8 interested parties is just classic sales talk. If you can convince someone that they might miss out on something they want because others are interested then you will pay more to make sure you get it. It also helps to attract people to a duff buy. If you are the only one who is interested in a risky purchase then you will start to doubt yourself and walk away.
I’m convinced no one is interested in NUFC. I have my own opinons on why, but ther aren’t for this conversation.
13 Nobby'sDad // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:08
Micky Toon ……..or from Asia or China.There are some very cash rich Chinese…..extend the stadium to the top of Stowell Street! Fantastic, I have a vision.
14 Daddy'sNob // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:17
well said Nobby son
15 SAGeordie // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:33
Gregory, in the old days you could be cast in chains for speaking ill of the King.
16 Chris G // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:51
Micky Toon - you’ve made some very good points there. I thought you might be interested to read this, if you haven’t seen it already
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/10/premierleague-newcastleunited
17 Stamford Toon // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:52
Macas; You have got it wrong. Sir Bobby was our greatest manager of recent times. It was him who made us the second favourite club in the country for fans of other clubs. He made a sustained attack on the top of the premiership (not a one off charge) and kept us in Europe for several seasons. Not only that he was a gentleman who would not break an agreemnt or walk out on a club.
18 Macas // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:58
Stamford Toon - Afraid we’ll have to disagree on this one! I think the finishes Keegan had in the Prem were marginally better than Robson’s. It was Keegan’s ‘Entertainers’ that had fans of other teams supporting us. And being a gentleman doesn’t really come into it!
19 selly no skill // Oct 10, 2008 at 13:16
keegans no fool gregory mate,but i’m with you in the fact he shouldnt come back now.we need stability and kk cant offer it.he’s a top blokle and a good short term plan but we’ve had short term blokes for the last 4 years now and its nearly recked us.get new owners and install shearer as the main man.he would be like keane for the mackems.but better.he demands respect and he wont quit like keegan.shearers love for the toon is unconditional.
20 toonfan // Oct 10, 2008 at 14:18
chris g - nice article mate, thees a lass who writes for the gaurdian who is also a nufc supporter.. all the crap that all the press is against us is crap…yea so the sale is in doubt at the min eh.
it was the ashley wont spend owt in the jan transfer window if hes still in charge that was the worst bit in the article…frightening if that scene pans out eh….troubling times ahead i reckon.
when his sports direct has taken that amount of hammering, i find it difficult to see him lowering the sale price of nufc….this club, even by our standards is going rnd and rnd in bloody circles…lets just hope someone comes in and stops this madness, coz if we dont buy in jan then were in big R trouble…IMO.
21 baz // Oct 10, 2008 at 17:35
anil ambani buying charlton!!! sky sports news!
22 baz // Oct 10, 2008 at 17:42
sorry zabeel investment group
23 pete // Oct 10, 2008 at 17:50
kfc anyone?
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/nufc/KFC-boss-to-take-over.4580680.jp
24 chuck // Oct 10, 2008 at 18:15
NUFC an iconic brand, well no actually, Juventus yes, certainly.
And for everyones sake stop elevating KK to sainthood you guys , instead look at his record.
25 daydeburt // Oct 10, 2008 at 19:28
eds quote: January transfer window opens, so we can strengthen our squad, which is just far too small, but full of quality.
No its not full of quality!!!
maybe compared to blyth spartans.
you are easily pleased, it a squad with a few decent players, but way short of any real european challenge.
26 shah // Oct 10, 2008 at 21:11
Gregory you are the weakest link! You are also the bigget fool………
Keegan is NEWCASTLE
27 Chris G // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:02
toonfan - yeah, that bit in the article about the lack of spending in the jan transfer window really worried me too. Let’s all pray that something gets sorted out soon before it’s too late.
28 jude // Oct 11, 2008 at 11:09
sorry i can’t help but think you all who think keegan is nothing but shite are idiots…
how many times can a man run away from something he’s comiitted too..
chicken…cat grabbed his balls….f***en bastard…he’s split and plunged into this mess with idiotic fans like you and u still have the audacity to follow and respect him
says a lot aba ur character
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