Reports coming in are that Newcastle will make an announcement on Monday over efforts to sell the club.
Mike Ashley – decision will be made today we think
Owner Mike Ashley was expected to make a decision sometime today on the sale and whether to keep the club for another year.
He has apparently given Barry Moat until 5:00 pm Newcastle time to make the deal.
And there still seem to be talks continuing with local businessman Barry Moat. And it could be that talks are also ongoing with two other consortia, but that’s less certain.
Ashley wants a £100m deal for the club, or else reports suggest he will just not sell.
It’s true that the longer things go on without a sale being reached, the more likely it will be that Ashley will stay.
We hope some news will filter through about the decision before Monday, but if Ashley decides to keep the club he will need to make a decision over his new manager.
With Chris Hughton doing so well with Colin Calderwood we have to think this points to Joe Kinnear being given the job again.
That’s even if it means waiting a month or two for Joe to be fully fit after his open heart surgery in February, because Hughton and Calderwood seem to have the support of the players at the club.
We don’t think Chris Hughton is the right man to remain in charge but he’s shown he’s an excellent coach, as is Colin Calderwood, and we would expect them both to stay on at Newcastle.
The squad is threadbare right now and whoever is announced owner and manager will need to get new players in quickly.
On Monday there will be just over a week left in the transfer window, what a ridiculous situation to be in.
We also think if Ashley strays then some players will want to leave, and we expect Steven Taylor and Nicky Butt may be two of them.
Now we have a few days to wait – well we’ve already waited almost 13 weeks – in fact on Sunday it will be 13 weeks since we were relegated by losing 1-0 at Villa Park.
We think if Ashley stays on, it will be very difficult to get the fans behind him, since he’s not well liked at all on Tyneside, and that’s putting it mildly.
Comments welcome.
138 comments so far
Toon1978
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Comment #81Stardust
I do know Ashley has paid quite a substantial amount of dept off at the club and maybe we would be in a worse position now without him but why give up the ghost now? he seems to have lost interest in an old toy and now the brat wants rid. He has to remember this is a football club and not a bloody sports shop where he pays his young staff minimum wage. I do appreciate what he has done regarding the dept and i think his ideas of bringing good youngsters in is excellent but when it comes to the nitty gritty he doesn’t want to know.
Stardust
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:28 PM
Comment #82Toon – when everyone sings they want you out, songs like “stand up if you hate ashley” ring around the ground, the mob riot with bedsheets and hate him, every conversation is anti ashley – all caused by the coward that was KK.
I dont think he owes us anything (communication aside) I wouldnt want to hang around this club the way he has been treated – I ask – would you?
Toon1978
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Comment #83Stardust
Fair point but is this not his own doing????
mylestoon
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Comment #84it all started because ashley didnt run the club like a football club! he ran it like a business, and football is a business in its own right! so you cant really change that!
Ashley didnt give keegan an inch and he didnt have any control of the squad, the comings and goings, etc. Not tell me – would you want to hang around the dlub after being treated like that? – i no i wouldnt!
dave 1961
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Comment #85now’s the time to take a deep breath and hope for the best see what mike Ashley come up with next week my hope is he dumps Llambias & goes with shearer so we can all get back behind the Toon & mike Ashley sees what a gold mine he has a good manager & a few years to build a good team and the roller coasters off again, this time don’t pay over the odds for greedy welsh Scouser dwarfs
Stardust
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Comment #86Toon – somewhat – though I differ as to the reason why its his own doing, I believe the ultimate tide turner against him was the KK walkout – I dont blame Ashley for that – these things are often fine line decisions and he had access to all of the information and facts – he decided that KKs walk out was wrong.
I have said throughout that communication – something which is free may well have saved him a few hundred million as the fans would have understood and been happy – guess we will never know that now though – granted.
Lew Davies
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Comment #87Stardust – in all honesty you know diddley squat about the debt MA has or hasn’t paid off/loaned or whatever. None of us do.
Also none of us know all the sordid details of what went on with KK either.
Everything has been kept very quiet, rightly or wrongly, as you would expect in a private business. Unfortunatly due to the mass “need to know” of everything at NUFC, this leads to speculation, rumours and lies.
The sooner this whole mess is sorted out the better, and chinks will do for me, but I doubt the communication will be any better. Not unless we become a plc again.
Toon1978
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Comment #88Stardust
I was overjoyed when KK returned but after his walk out AGAIN i would never have KK back at the club again. The vast amount of people did turn agains’t Ashley after the KK saga and i whole heartedly agree with you on that point. But it seems he is stripping the club to its bare bones and stuffing the cash in his back pocket instead of investing in new players and getting this club back on track by bringing in a manager like Curbishly or Coterill.
Stardust
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Comment #89Lew – to be fair I have followed the clubs finances for 6 years now – so your comments start is somewhat without foundation.
The rest of your post in the main – I agree with – however dont mistake being a PLC with communication. Its the man at the top that giverns that – Ashley doesnt want to or feel the need to do it. Wrongly in NUFCs case.
sirjasontoon
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:53 PM
Comment #90Ashley to stay as I predicted….can’t see him letting it go…..especially when he still has more time to strip more assets before the window shuts…..SLAM!!
Not over keen on Moat at least if Ashley stays he can give us more false promises while he laughs up his sleeve 🙂
Stardust
Aug 21, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Comment #91Toon – I was similarly overjoyed on KKs return and I have never felt so betrayed as when he walked – he cared about himself alone, not the collapse at NUFC that would follow.
The sale of players at the presnt time is a reality of the here and now, we have too many costs and not enough income, I liken it to stripping out the cancer to allow us the grow again from a healthy base.
I just hope that all of us, management, board, shareholders, fans, players and the city learn from the fact that we need to trust each other – all of our aims are aligned, the fans choose to distrust and hate rather than support.
Einsteins – Law of Attraction played out for all to see.
Unless the fans change their mindset (helped by a communicative board0 we will be in the doldrums for some time to come.
If the fans realise what they have and nearly lost (as a result of Ashleys pockets) then maybe just maybe we can become great again.
Lew Davies
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:01 PM
Comment #92I readily admit I dont understand any of this to be honest. Why no communication? I mean absolutly nothing! And then a load of lies. Why?
SJT – what has he to gain by asset stripping???
He is still left with the club at the end of the day. Are you saying its all to do with the protests against him?
so many questions, so few answers.
🙁
Lew Davies
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Comment #93Oh yes 1 more – where the hell has all the money from player sales gone?????
ie milner, nzog plus the recent ones.
Stardust
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Comment #94Lew – I mean absolutly nothing! And then a load of lies. Why?
The lies maybe arent lies, its only when one has access to all of the information you can draw conclusions whether or not lies have been told, as we have not got access we can not draw the conclusion.
The question Why? is a great one though – so easily sorted – why not!
Stardust
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Comment #95Lew – the next set of accounts will answer that openly and honestly. The last set vindicated Ashley 100000%
Lew Davies
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Comment #96why not! hmmm, but thats just a childish attitude, surely not what you would expect from a decent business man.
oh well that answers that then!
batty
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Comment #97STARDUST are we still on for that drink and can wor donna get them vouchers for y blog mates lol
sirjasontoon
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:48 PM
Comment #98Lew there has been no benefit in the Asset stripping…apart from weaken the team over the long run….It baffles me what Mikes Masterplan actually is….I would love to be a maggot in his ear feeding off his brain…then I could come back on here and spill the beans 🙂
Just hope it all works out in the end…for the club,the city and the fine geordie nation.
Stardust
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Comment #99Lew – I was agreeing with you – it was a question not statement.
Stardust
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Comment #100Batty – Big Dave’s going crackers on the other thread – maybe thats it – he wanted his free vouchers! – hilarious! Might have to go crackers Billy style and drown him lol.
batty
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Comment #101stardust is the drink still on and what aboot the vouchers lol
batty
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Comment #102lol but i was close thinking it was troy lol
sirjasontoon
Aug 21, 2009 at 6:53 PM
Comment #103Anyways..hopefully our bunch of battlers will trounce (love that word) palace tomorrow and be sitting proud and pretty at the top of the fizzy tree tomorrow…..
bringbackbramble
Aug 21, 2009 at 7:34 PM
Comment #104call me stupid…optimistic, or whatever.
but i realy think that come Monday a new structure will be in place.
whether thats wish ca$hley taking a back seat and someone else taking over as the figure head or with him and his crew out the door compleatly.
I dont realy care at this stage, i just want some clarity….the good times will come back again, its just a question of how low we’ve got to go before then.
repo
Aug 21, 2009 at 7:58 PM
Comment #105Newcastle United will have to sell three more players before next weekend if Barry Moat’s proposed takeover of the Championship club is to stand a chance of success.
Newcastle currently have a £40m overdraft facility with Barclays and the bank have indicated they will lend Moat the funds necessary to purchase Newcastle
Providing the overdraft and player wage bill – understood to have already been slashed from more than £70m to around £48m after the departure of 10 players this summer – are reduced significantly.
Although Newcastle today (FRI) said they would be making an announcement regarding the club’s future ownership on Monday it is understood this may not be definitive and that Moat probably has until the end of next week to try to close a deal.
Meanwhile, Ashley – whose asking price is £100m – has now accepted that an 11th-hour intervention is unlikely.
“Moat is the only show in town,” said a source. “If his bid collapses Mike Ashley will keep Newcastle on for another season
Geordie Jayne
Aug 21, 2009 at 8:37 PM
Comment #106Stardust = PRICK
Intelligence I think not – self proclaimed smart arse
Lew Davies
Aug 21, 2009 at 9:05 PM
Comment #107GI Jayne – Harsh. It does get a tad too serious on here sometimes.
Any road no one really thought BB was genuine surely??? Did you???
JinkyGenius
Aug 21, 2009 at 9:27 PM
Comment #108Telling article in the Times online this evening about takeover, nothing you folks don’t know, but it sums up the situation succinctly:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6805864.ece
Geordie Jayne
Aug 21, 2009 at 9:36 PM
Comment #109Lewis of course I believed the name Billy Bunter NOT my comments are not just of the past few weeks m8, if you have been on here for a while you will know why – Cashley’s best PAL
Geordie Jayne
Aug 21, 2009 at 9:38 PM
Comment #110Lew – also as far as Stardust is aware of the accounts he talks out of his Arse, Cashley DOES NOT NEED to show his accounts and there is NO WAY WHAT SO EVER to find out if what info he does let out is true.
Stardust just likes to make himself look like he knows all when he knows as little as the rest of us.
bill
Aug 21, 2009 at 9:47 PM
Comment #111Stardust:
You are sick.
Troy Stavers
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Comment #112woo hoo hoo hoo! its the greatest!! everyone getting upset by stardust!
Take a step back, deep breathley, count to ten and then shout!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you absolute tosser starbust!!!
How can any one of you’s idiots take this gonk seriously!!!
He supports Ashley for Christs sake man!!
I know Stardust! I went to school, work and play sexual games with him in bed!!
He is small, very small, very very small.!
Why do you get upset with someone who is a gonk!
I have an affinity to gonks with small members. Doesn’t mean you have to.
Unless you like that too?
Troy Tickler
Troy Stavers
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:05 PM
Comment #113@ Geordie Jayne
By the way, im bi- sexual
I would love to bed you too!!!!
roy ravers
batty
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Comment #114troy i thought it was u did stardust tell y a grassed him lol he had me in stitches like
Troy Stavers
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:16 PM
Comment #115@ Batty
He actually tells me that he thinks you are thick!
He reckons you believe in Stardust’s dream! David Icke will take over the world.
Batty, don’t fall for his evil ways.
He is poison!!
Troy Stavers
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:22 PM
Comment #116@ Nora Batty
Wots the madder?
Cat got your tongue or dog chewed your typing finger?
Troy Stavers
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:23 PM
Comment #117We’re all waiting for Nora!! La La La La, La, la, la , la, la la
batty
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:25 PM
Comment #118troy a dont care what stardust thinks dont beleive a word he says but a do like the guy find him amusing and what he did is something what i would do
batty
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Comment #119troy ad your quite funny as well i can see why u 2 are mates i grew up with winde ups lol and troy y of y heed and a dont beleive a word what u say either but a sit here laughing at your comments when your on
Troy Stavers
Aug 21, 2009 at 10:37 PM
Comment #120Listen in Nora!!
It’s people like you who make me mad!
I try and make a positive point and you just put in the negatives.
Don’t get friendly with me if you are friendly with Starburst the Gonk!!
Troy is being serious noo!!
Batty whats your facebook address or name?