The Evening Chroncile today have followed up on their story from last night, and report that a mystery Malaysian consortium is understood to have made a bid for the Newcastle United club.
Derek Llambias – toured facilities yesterday with Malaysian group
The Evening Chronicle is reporting that a bid in excess of £80M has now been made by the group, who were given a full tour of St James’ Park yesterday, as well as the city and the Benton training grounds yesterday by managing director Derek Llambias.
The group even dropped into Shearer’s bar, maybe to find out if Newcastle Brown Ale really is all it’s cracked up to be.
We have to hope that this group wants Alan Shearer as manager, and then we could see some dramatic developments very soon.
The news is they are now in London continuing their talks, but this has to be good news for Newcastle fans, who have gone almost 6 weeks of misery and uncertainty, since the club were relegated form the Premier league.
That famous Newcastle insider told the Evening Chronicle:
“The group were given the full works around the stadium and at the training ground.”
“They watched the players train and this proved a bit of distraction for a lot of them who are wondering what the heck is going on at Newcastle.”
There is interest from a number of buyers, but as Ashley said, the first up with the asking price of £100M, or some acceptable bid near to that, gets the club.
And it is thought it is now the Malaysians who are closest to signing a sales and purchase agreement, which is the legal contract that more or less cements the deal for the club. Once that is done, it should be possible to bring in a full time manager, although whether they want Alan Shearer at the helm is currently not known.
But the Malaysians have now completed their process of due diligence and it is understood they are also willing to bear the cost of of the club’s £35M overdraft, and other financial commitments such as existing transfer installments still outstanding on players such as Oba Martins and Damien Duff.
Apparently Chelsea are still owed around £2M for the Irishman over the next two seasons, even though he’s been at Newcastle for three seasons now. 
There is also potential compensation that may have to be paid out to former manager Kevin Keegan, which could result in compensation for the 3 years left on his contract, which was at £3M/year.
The Chronicle are also reporting that a Central European billionaire, renowned for his background in the online gaming industry, had also gone through the process of due diligence but has yet to be able to prepare a bid.
The drama unfolded yesterday afternoon after lunch apparently, when a 6 strong party arrived in Newcastle at the city’s heliport, and they had a tour of the ground by Derek Llambias, and then they moved to the Benton training ground where they were shown the facilities.
And a surprise when they met Oba Martins getting treatment on his groin, and later Oba told the players later they were here to buy the club. Drama indeed. 
But the Chronicle is also reporting that a group of Americans checked out the club’s training ground on Monday accompanied by United financial controller John Irving, but Llambias was not present.
So we have to believe push is coming to shove now, and with the groups having finished their due diligence, offers will now be made for the club, and we have to think these will be studied over the weekend, and early next week the new owners will be announced.
We have to hope so anyway, because if Shearer can be put in place early next week, the club can still be ready for the opening game on August 8th, even though lots of work still had to be done.
Comments welcome.
14 responses so far ↓
1 RyanToon // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Monday is the day
2 Pons Aelius // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:26 PM
If they’re only just been given the tour of the ground now I would expect the bidding to begin within the next week or so. I have the feeling we may be waiting until the beginning of August until it’s all sorted. I hope I’m wrong!
3 King Bob the first // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Rumor has it, AirAisa are interested the drama continues
4 shrews mag // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:31 PM
I agree … when you buy a car you kick the tyres and make an offer … with a multi million pound business being talked about, there must be more to it.
There may be a preferred bidder who is announced next week but until the cheque clears its all speculation … and we could be waiting a while …
5 Robby Bobson // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Ideally we would get a man not a group. A group will look for profit…end of, and although a single man would obviusly want a return (realistacally we are obviusly not getting an abrimovich) there is more accountabiltiy with a single owner so would probably invest more.
I would assume by now everyone knows what they want to bid and if they have had the tour arent put off by our finances. I reckon the first group just to say yes we are ready to commit will sign that document that essentially commits them to buy. When that is signed even though there will be things to sort out, im sure that they will shearer in and preparations can really begin.
6 stk85 // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:38 PM
about time all this was sorted.
one of the most important seasons in years and if we don’t have shearer (noone else has been mentioned, nor would anyone else be able to take this huge task on willfully) in by mid-july, the impact it could have on players leaving and the results at the beginning of the season could be disasterous
7 Rangerman // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:49 PM
Ideally we would get a man not a group. A group will look for profit…end of, and although a single man would obviusly want a return (realistacally we are obviusly not getting an abrimovich) there is more accountabiltiy with a single owner so would probably invest more.
……
I’m not sure I agree with that, the problem is when you have someone on their own who wants to treat the club has a plaything you run the risk of him losing interest and walking away, much like Ashley did with us after the Hull game.
A group will want to make money but the way they will do that is to make us successful on the pitch, which will increase the value of the club and their stake in it.
I think I would prefer a group like Drummeville who bought out the Mackems and provided them with plenty of money over the past 2 years until they sold up, I would be happy with someone like Lerner too but they will all want a return on their investment eventually.
8 Rodzilla // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:55 PM
…”Central European billionaire, renowned for his background in the online gaming industry”
Sounds dodgy as fooooooooooook
9 Solaidback // Jul 3, 2009 at 5:06 PM
You have to remember that these Asian gadgies always come in groups, it’s part of their nature, the head man will be there but he’ll bring all his cronies with him to give their opinions, so it may only be one man who’s buying, just he’s brought all his lawyers & sons with him to view whats he’a about to spend £80m+ on…
As for whether its the Asians or Americans, who cares as long as they’re willing to splash the cash whihc Ashley didn’t do on the team & club
As for this compensation that KK is after, if the new owners offer him a job, he may drop the case against the TOON or is it against Ashley, in which case, let him take it to court, so much for his love of the TOON!!!
10 toonsy // Jul 3, 2009 at 6:07 PM
6 weeks of misery after relegation? What about the whole of last season Ed?
I think its coming to crunch time, and so it should as its been dragged out for long enough!
11 stk85 // Jul 3, 2009 at 7:10 PM
yea keegan should have a claim against ashley who was his overall boss during his employment, not the organisation he supposedly loves
12 Doocey // Jul 3, 2009 at 7:54 PM
It’s coming to an end lads, believe me.
By Monday we should and I emphasize should be sold.
13 joe // Jul 4, 2009 at 6:14 AM
i really hope the malaysian group buys us as im malaysian myself! trust me football is HUGE in malaysia and it would be good if people here start supporting newcastle instead of all the plastic manu liverpool supporters.
14 waddler // Jul 4, 2009 at 8:10 AM
I like The Profitable Groups idea to democratise the club, similar to Barcelona’s model.
Barcelona have a membership scheme and pay about £150 each year and they have over 100,000 members who can vote for a president every 4 years.
The cost to go to league games is about £10.
We could get 100,000 members on Tyneside surely.
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