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Mike Ashley lawyer gives interview to Sky Sports about Newcastle United for sale signs

6 years ago
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In a statement released at 5pm on Monday afternoon by Mike Ashley, in the name of St. James Holdings, he announced that Newcastle United is up for sale.

Following that statement (which you can read here), Sky Sports have run an interview with Andrew Henderson of Dentons, who is the lawyer for Mike Ashley’s St James’ Holdings.

Andrew Henderson speaking to Sky Sports:

“There has obviously been a lot of press speculation about Mike’s intentions towards the club.

“I think that there is a view that over the years there has been a considerable investment, perhaps a feeling that all that can be done has been done.

“So it is probably just a recognition that it might be time for a change.

“Our intentions at the moment are to see if the club can be brought forward into new ownership by potentially Christmas.

“That would allow for a period for serious interested parties to put themselves forward, for a diligence process to carry on, and then hopefully by Christmas for a sale to conclude with the sort of flexibility around terms we have discussed.

“If that weren’t possible then there is no desire to sell the club for any price to anyone. There is a lot of responsibility that goes with owning the football club so we would then look at that at the relevant time.

“That’s the objective but nobody has a crystal ball so nobody can say for sure what happens and when.

“I think back to the question of price, it will depend on what somebody is prepared to pay for the club.

“Football clubs have a scarcity value, nobody is making 150-year-old football clubs with the kind of traditions that Newcastle United have so obviously there is value there but then in terms of what the number is that will be dictated by how many people, how many serious people are interested, how many serious people can deliver and so we then get to how long will that take, how long do we give them.

“I think that is a matter for negotiation but certainly not all in year one so that’s how we would be approaching it.”

Having this interview put out by Mike Ashley’s mates at Sky Sports makes me think a little bit more that we are all being played once again by Ashley.

I hope it isn’t the case, but we have seen numerous claims down the years by Ashley saying that he wants/is prepared to sell Newcastle United, but nothing has ever materialised. The feeling being that he wasn’t serious about it and/or the price was extortionate.

So many other clubs have been bought/sold or had major shareholdings in them sold, in the 10 years+ since Mike Ashley bought NUFC, so you have to then be dubious as to why nothing has ever happened on Tyneside.

We all want to believe that this time it is going to be different but when somebody has lied repeatedly, how can you know when they are telling the truth?

All the talk is of wanting something sorted by Christmas.

Bottom line is that is he is serious about selling, then there will be a buyer out there if Newcastle United is up for sale at a realistic price. All of the other clubs such as Manchester City, Everton, Liverpool, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Leicester, Wolves, West Ham, Southampton etc have been sold or had investors buying major shareholdings in recent years, whilst Ashley has continued to own NUFC.

There isn’t anything special/different about Newcastle United, if it is priced to sell.

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