There was news in the Mail yesterday that a group of American investors want to buy Newcastle for £300M.
The report is that any deal could collapse with Newcastle currently in a relegation place; the same was being said late last year when Amanda Staveley was trying to buy the club.
If Mike Ashley had spent some of the club’s money in the summer, we wouldn’t be second bottom of the league now, and there would be a lot more potential bids to buy the club.
We are still not convinced Ashley wants to sell Newcastle unless he gets a really huge bid coming in.
Newcastle owner Mike Ashley
The American group are said to be willing to pay £300M for Newcastle but are reported to be deeply concerned about the club’s position in the league table.
This new group wants to beat the consortium being headed up by former Macnsheter United supremo Peter Kenyon that was reported to be interested in buying the club a few weeks ago.
This is what a source has told the Mail about this new American group:
“We are talking seriously wealthy people,” “They have the funding and see the potential.”
“They see a sleeping giant and feel they cannot only have a real go at providing the success fans crave but also take Newcastle to the next level globally.”
“Any potential buyer is wary of the league position. The fear is that you pay £300M now, back the manager with another £100M in January and still get relegated.”
“All of a sudden you’ve spent £400M for a club that is suddenly only worth £150M.”
“It’s a huge risk.”
“Ideally, Newcastle go on a run and a sale goes through once the window has closed when they’re close to, or have stayed up.”
That seems a strange statement by the source.
It’s all about the negative things that could happen.
And while any group has to look at that, they should also be thinking more of the positive things – like how much could be made available in January.
If Newcastle pull away in the next several games presumably relegation could become a non-issue, and there’s always a risk involved in any financial takeover.
I have my doubts about this one though – it’s not the type of statement you usually see from potential buyers who are reported to be keen to buy the club.
We have to remember Newcastle have only played 8 games this season and there are 30 games still to play.
We would be surprised if this potential bid becomes real.
And it’s noticeable that Peter Kenyon is also said to be talking to the American group Rockefeller Capital Management to get the funds to potentially buy Newcastle.
Things will get interesting if and when a group signs nondisclosure forms with the club to take a deep dive into Newcastle’s books.
That hasn’t happened yet – at least not this year.
And it’s possible that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos could be interested.
His company have won the rights to stream Premier League games in the UK starting next season – 20 games in total – which are at no extra cost to Prime subscribers.
NBC Sports in the US already streams every single Premier League game over here.
And Bezoz wants to diversify the company into new areas although he could buy Newcastle himself – just like he bought the Washington Post.
Jeff has serious money – he’s now worth around £160B in 2018 according to Forbes magazine – one year ago he was only worth £81.5B.
Comments welcome.
9 comments so far
Jail for Ashley
Oct 17, 2018 at 9:38 AM
Comment #1So really just a message from Keef telling us to stop these silly protests
Optimistic Panda
Oct 17, 2018 at 9:40 AM
Comment #2These stories of a take over a really getting to me.
Dangling the carrot…
If it happens no one will know and it’ll come as a surprise until it’s done and dusted.
My optimism has gone, I feel deflated and have lost all hope. Ashley won’t leave unless he gets a ridiculous price and he won’t let go of his grip on the club’s advertise without a major fight.
I can’t see anyone who wants to maximise the potential of the club allowing this so it’s a Mexican stand off!
geordietom
Oct 17, 2018 at 9:40 AM
Comment #3looks like the team has to pull their socks up win 4 or 5 games … get us out of the bottom 3 … then things might start moving on the sale of wor club … starting with a win the weekend would be nice
Ibizatoon
Oct 17, 2018 at 9:46 AM
Comment #4Rob…I think you know what part of your comment jumped out at me….
“but I imagine Ashley’s team knows more about that than I do. At least I hope they do, given it’s their job….”
And there lies the problem. They lie and rarely does it seem that Newcastle’s fortunes are in Ashley’s job description.
I was being facetious about taking players in January and I agree, if true, it’d more likely be us feeding them players for our youth to gain experience.
Aces…Me neither, it’d be a fitting product though.
Jail…Sorry, could you remind me what you asked yesterday?
On thread, it’s just like everything that has come before. Fans start taking action (which people say wont work) and then all of a sudden, Ashley is interested, or trying to sell, or this or that. It just plays on fans hope as they know we don’t really want to fight over the club, we want to enjoy it.
A strategy that allows for both would probably be the best outcome. Anyone know when the next Magpies Group meeting is?
Ibizatoon
Oct 17, 2018 at 9:48 AM
Comment #5I wonder whether a better offer from Ashley to Rafa and the players over dinner may have been, come on lads, play out of your skin, get up the table and I’ll be able to sell the club and you’ll be rid of me.
I imagine Rafa could pick a squad of players from this blog, who with that determination may well win the league.
Ibizatoon
Oct 17, 2018 at 9:58 AM
Comment #6Jail…Don’t worry, I found it.
“Jail for Ashley
Oct 16, 2018 at 3:06 PM
Comment #44
Ibiza,
There are a few voicing opinions against him who go to games. The vast majority who also want rid of Ashley are behind Rafa. Can you explain the disparity?”
I’d imagine there are some who attend games that get frustrated, for me, if you remove the Ashley aspect (not saying we should, but stick with me), then there is a case to be made. The guy is not infallable
I can only answer for me, I look back to when we had Pardew, I didn’t even advocate getting rid of him, as I didn’t really see the point (not comparing the two managers, clearly Pardew had no self respect or respect for the fans and was a willing mouthpiece for Ashley), but on a footballing basis, it just seemed to be focusing on the wrong area.
Those who are desperate for Ashley to leave see Rafa as a manager that challenges his ideals. It’s someone we see as on our side. I think that outweighs football and tactics for a lot of fans.
My feeling is, if we didn’t have Ashley as owner, more fans would be looking for a better style of football. But we do have Ashley, so I think we have bigger fish to fry.
For me, that isn’t the question though, we know the answer, what the blog seems to be confused about, at least to me, is the reason why some fans aren’t completely behind Rafa. There will be some for sure, but I don’t believe it’s just WUM’s and mackems. That, imo, is extremely damaging for the blog. Challenging ideas is not, however.
Ibizatoon
Oct 17, 2018 at 9:59 AM
Comment #7infallible* and don’t know what happened in the middle there.
toon22
Oct 17, 2018 at 10:13 AM
Comment #8It’s boring now
The selling lie,nobody believes it
It’s never MAs fault
nufc 11
Oct 17, 2018 at 3:38 PM
Comment #9They might want to buy but Ashley doesn’t want to sell because of the kick backs that Sports Direct get by having MA as owner of nufc.