The Telegraph is reporting tonight that Mike Ashley is set to end his seven-year stretch as the owner of Newcastle United, with the news that he will increase his stake in Glasgow Rangers and to do that he will have to sell Newcastle.
Mike Ashley – will sell Newcastle?
Luke Edwards is reporting that Mike Ashley is ready to receive offers from investors to buy Newcastle United.
The reasoning is that Mike wants to increase his stake in Rangers by more than 10% – he currently owns 9% – and he is prevented from doing that by the Scotland Football Association, because he already is the owner of Newcastle United.
Ashley is looking for about £230M for Newcastle, and that would mean he would recuperate most of the investment he put into the club – he bought it for around £134M from Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd back in June of 2007, and has about a £129M interest-free loan to the club.
If the Telegraph report is not true we would expect the club to come out and say so via a statement – and silence would infer the report is pretty much accurate.
Rangers are again in some financial trouble and are said to be close again to administration, and Mike could play his hand and loan Rangers the money they need to avoid administration for a second time in only three years.
Administration could be devastating for Rangers, and could even mean demotion back down the Scottish league, and in that way Ashley could be the white knight.
The news of a few days ago was that Ashley already has the naming rights to Ibrox Stadium, and we could see another Sports Direct Stadium fairly soon in Glasgow.
But Ashley has tried to sell Newcastle United twice before and was unsuccessful both times – in October 2008 after the Kevin Keagan affair – and then again in the summer of the following year, after Newcastle had been relegated.
In fact the second time he wanted only £80M for the club, and at the time Newcastle were a Championship club and there were still no takers.
One good thing about the Tyneside club that will be attractive to investors, is that Mike Ashley has made Newcastle into a financially prosperous club, and anybody doing due diligence on the finances of the club will have to be impressed.
We think profits for the financial year ended at the end of June, could be as much as £50M with revenues of around £135M – that’s a rough estimate.
Those revenues and profits would be the best ever – by far – in the history of the club.
But even if this news in the Telegraph is accurate, there have been no takers before, but Newcastle fans will hope a consortium can come in and buy the club off Ashley, and then make it into a top six English club – like we used to be – with ambitions to play in the Champions league every season.
That’s what we’d like to see, but whether that will happen we have no idea.
The first thing to find out is whether Mike Ashley really wants to sell Newcastle.
What do you think?
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46 comments so far
WestOzMag
Sep 11, 2014 at 2:03 AM
Comment #41The cancer in this club is both Ashley and Pardew. I’d say carver and stone needs to get the flick as they also offer sweat f a. Get rid of thses 4 and i’d be inclined to take interest in the club again and pay attention to match results.
Malta Mag
Sep 11, 2014 at 7:14 AM
Comment #42Let’s hope all those that have chased Mike Ashley out get the person they seem to think will change the direction of the club. I personally hold my breath. Chairmen who want to change the name, the colours, the location? Scares me I’m afraid although I’m a realist and realise that both Ashley and in particular Alan Pardew are on borrowed time
chenz7
Sep 11, 2014 at 12:19 PM
Comment #43couple of thoughts…if Scotland vote yes for independence would that mean cashley could own both clubs …rangers being a foreign club and secondly …n.u.f.c is a very profitable company …why would the fat so n so wanna sell up
TacoFlavoredKisses ForMyBen-arfa
Sep 11, 2014 at 1:32 PM
Comment #44for those of you who praise the way ashley is working the finances, can someone please explain why there is still an interest free loan to ashley? Lets just say the loan was to someone else, wouldnt it be prudent to gradually pay off that loan instead of ownership taking profits? This guy is sucking out the money knowing when he sells hell get back his loan that he is “owed”. What a racket…..
greekgeordie
Sep 11, 2014 at 2:04 PM
Comment #45If the article is based on facts and reliable sources, then better days might be ahead, a new owner might give us the impetus needed to go forwards.
But if it is the normal journalistic ploy to sell stories, then it will make more harm than good.
There is a climate of rebellion among the supporters, and if it is allowed to blow out of proportion will definitely affect the team, we as fans, are there to support the club and the team, and I do not believe in the theory if we get relegated Pardew and Ashley will walk away, they might but what good will be to United, getting back to the EPL is not as easy as some people think, so staying up is the main point and this is done by winning games.
Of course I wish to be in the CL year in year out but this can only be succeeded by investing over 100M on the team and as we all know Ashley cannot and he is not prepared to do so even if he could effort it.
So who ever joint me in the St Mary’s on Saturday, express your opinion before and after the game, whichever way you wish, but during the 90 minutes of football be behind the team as you usual are, and do not let your dislike for Pardew and Ashley effect the players.
Sav
Sep 11, 2014 at 11:48 PM
Comment #46“silence would infer the report is pretty much accurate.” WTF? – What law school did you attend? Even Pistorius wasn’t given that choice.
– and its not as if Mashley didn’t have a history of completely blanking questions from fans and journalists, is it?