News

Sky Sports exclusive – Chinese investors approach Newcastle United and Mike Ashley considering options

Mike Ashley is considering an approach from Chinese investors according to a Sky Sports Newcastle United exclusive.

Ki Sung-yueng
by

Newcastle United have been approached by Chinese investors according to ‘breaking news’ on Monday night.

Sky Sports have the exclusive and say that this is ‘real’ interest.

It is some time now since we have seen any media claims of interest in somebody buying Newcastle United and/or Mike Ashley wanting to sell.

Sky Sports are insisting that this is genuine interest and that Mike Ashley is ‘considering all options.

Having bought the club simply as a business, the only guarantee was that Ashley would one day sell it.

With that likely to happen as out of he blue as when he bought it in 2007, who knows whether this is a genuine possibility as per the Sky Sports exclusive.

With the 10 year mark just having passed us by, most Newcastle supporters will feel that the owner has been here a lot longer than anybody imagined.

Having returned to the Premier League and with increased TV cash deals now in play, maybe the optimum time to sell?

Jim Robertson

Jim Robertson

Staff Writer - We don't ask for much, a few decent players and some entertainment, plus a club that looks to do its best by everybody - including the fans.

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  • Toonarden

    Wow! Let’s hope it’s real and the investors are China’s richest. There’s some serious money available in that country.

  • Doug Dacre

    What happened to the Qataries?? Or is this smoke and mirrors from Ashley to squeeze more money…

  • Albert Stubbins

    Leazesender will be happy!! so will all the lads on stowell st.!!

  • Damon Horner

    Don’t get too excited. Can see most bids not being big enough for Ashley to sell.

  • rob taplin

    I heard Rinaldo was looking for a new club 😁

    • Albert Stubbins

      is that Ronaldo’s brother?

      • rob taplin

        No he’s a little poor kid from some shanty town in Portugal

        • Albert Stubbins

          is that an alternative chorus line to bohemian rhapsody?

  • Steve Smith

    Not sure I’m too keen. Consortia would really mean the chances are they’d be looking to put profit first, unless there just happens to be a few chinese billionaires who support Newcastle United and all want a shot at bankrolling the club as fans….

    Where’s the Vince McMahon story anyway? Surely about time that one came up again.

    • Pelican

      Surely the idea would be to grow the club, the money is in the club’s value. Grown the brand, make the club more competitive etc. Buying the club to make a few quid on a low-wage bill and outgoing transfers would be short-sighted.

      • Steve Smith

        It most definitely would. Yet we’ve lived with it for a decade!

  • Peter

    I wondered if there was a link between a Chinese betting firm being sponsors and a possible Chinese takeover…we shall see…

    • Toonrobbybobson

      The rumour has been around a few months.

    • Porciestreet

      Exactly my thoughts.

    • YorkieGeordie

      A Chinese takeover more like a Chinese takeaway

  • Toonrobbybobson

    If we want to get anywhere then we have to encourage change. Ashley is not interested in pushing Newcastle on hes only interested in Premier League existence. If we really want to have a go again in general with some optimism it has to have a change of ownership.

  • Toonrobbybobson

    The other side of it could be a way for Ashley to hold back spending!

  • Mrkgw

    Careful what we wish for here. Look at Villa and others that have come a cropper as a result of overseas ownership.

    • Pelican

      Villa owner has only relegated them once, and the club was beyond disrepair when he came in. Villa will be back under their owner. Ashley relegated Newcastle, TWICE! That trumps Villa’s owner.

      • Oooh bobbi fleckman

        And NUFC was a busted flush when MA came in.

        • HarryHype59

          It had debt issues but was no busted flush.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            Debt issues that nobody else would touch with a bargepole both Belgravia and Polygon walked away once they realised the state of the finances. It was a bleeding mess.

          • HarryHype59

            In some ways it would have been better borrowing the money commercially in order to restructure the debt and use the increased TV cash to reduce it. The current arrangement is like an old fashioned endowment mortgage. The debt never decreases even though Ashley must have received 400m + in TV money during his ten year ownership. In fact, even you admit the debt will increase from £129m (top five in English football) as result of the second relegation under this regime.

            If Ashley gets his ridiculous £400m there is a good chance that any takeover would be leveraged and the borrowed money counted as the clubs debt. The Glaziers did this at Man U. I think the TV money has peaked so Ashley will be looking to sell.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            You forget costs. We were losing £33m a year at the time. The debt was under different arrangements but we weren’t paying anything back before. The stadium debt was was provided like a Eurobond, money was released at parts of the stadium were completed (quite normal) and issued as fixed term bonds which would have been rolled over – nothing was actually paid back, just the interest paid. The overdraft debt was like any overdraft, used on demand but it was increasing throughout 2005-2007. there was another loan from the casino group, again, no repayments made. On top of that, there was the unpaid transfer fees.

            The club has received £400m + in tv money, they have also received money through the ticket sales, merchandise, sponsorship etc, around £700m I’d say. The club has also paid out wages, fees, electricy bills, rates, agents fee and everything else that costs when running a club. Pre-Ashley, we were very bad at making that money received exceed that money paid out. I would not have had much faith in them turning that trend around and being able to generate a surplus to repay debt.

          • HarryHype59

            We will never know will we? It is however and indisputable fact that the past ten years have been the most lucrative ever for owners with TV incomes dwarfing the pre Ashley era.

            During this period the debt has increased and the club has been relegated twice. The TV money gave Ashley the opportunity to develop the NUFC brand. Alas it had been wasted to to short termism and downright bad management.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            We will never know because MA came in and sorted the finances out. That we do know and we also know that if it wasn’t MA, someone had to come in and finance the losses for a while and reduce the costs unless they were so rich that financing the losses for an eternity was not a problem.

          • HarryHype59

            Even if Ashley did ‘save us’ his regime has marked ten years of failure and underachievement. The only trophies won are two Championship trophies as we have struggled to compete in the highest tier being relegated twice. I think Ashley has been a dreadful owner. If you think otherwise that is your prerogative. You will be in the minority holding that view.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            It’s been up and down I grant you and not all the decision have been good but it’s not all been bad either. You talk as if the previous years were all trophies and success. We’ve won nothing since 1969 except a championship in 1992, 2010 and 2016. We’ve always been a yo-yo club and when Ashley took over, he started from a very low base.

            You can’t just take over a club making the biggest losses in the country with the 2nd highest wage bill in the country and crippling debts and expect to be able to turn it around into a competitive club with successes that it hasn’t had since 1950’s re. the FA cup and 20’s for the league.

          • HarryHype59

            I know you have a different take on reality but in my view and most others, the Ashley era has been ten years of struggle, frustration a disappointment.

          • HarryHype59

            The club had a fantastic period when Keegan and SBR were there when the club enjoyed relative success (for us) and even played in the Champions league. NUFC were an established EPL side. Now they are a yo yo team. Any new owners are starting from a much lower base than Ashley did.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            We did have a great period under KK & SBR but it was all built on quicksand. If KK stayed & then SBR was not sacked, I think we’d have never gone down but you can say the same about Sam Aladyce.

            As soon as we fell out of the top 5, the finances collapsed and without finance, we couldn’t compete.

            I agree, we should never have been relegated, 2009 was a perfect storm of MA errors and pure bad luck. 2015-16 looked great at the start, good players bought in, money spent and McLaren had us playing lovely stuff before the season started and even in those first couple of games until West Ham away where the confidence just went and never returned. In hindsight, McClaren was not a good pick but lets be honest, Rafa was not about to leave Real Madrid for us in that summer.

    • Albert Stubbins

      villa have spent millions- just on bad players that’s all- sound familiar.?

  • SH.ER

    Villa Wolves Birmingham!!!
    JUST NO, not now

  • MichaelMaximusMoose

    wonder if they would keep Penfold, with a slight bit of makeup the little fat [email protected]@ka could pass as one of them

    • Porciestreet

      Start calling him Buddah…!

      • Geordiegiants

        I prefer wankah!

    • Albert Stubbins

      ha ha- love it. I can’t see him letting you have all you can scran for a fiver at his house though somehow!!

    • MadMag83

      Maybe as a sumo wrestler

      • Oooh bobbi fleckman

        Errr, that would be Japanese but still in the same vein if lazy raci**

        • MadMag83

          Woah! It was a genuine mistake, no need for the racism banner. It’s people like you who create divisions where there are none with the lazy racism accusations.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            Not particularly exclusive to you MadMag83, the sub-thread started by MMM (who else) with the reference to (I assume) facial stereotypes and “one of them” was an uncomfortable read.

    • Oooh bobbi fleckman

      Jesus! Mmm, the 1970’s are on the phone, they want their language back.

  • Geordiegiants

    Get him out!

  • Keeganontherebound

    I’d say better the devil you know at this stage. Ashley seems to have reached an agreement with Rafa and Benitez would not have stayed if he didn’t think he could make NUFC a serious force again. Who knows what the agenda of new owners could be. They might not want Benitez and he might not want to work with them.

    • Kazie

      I agree with you on that point that’s why I wouldn’t want a new owner unless they speak to Rafa if they really want to buy the club…

  • MichaelMaximusMoose

    they aren`t asset strippers like Fatso,
    he`s relegated us twice & the current squad isn`t fit for purpose in the premiership
    Get the pig out of the door Asap

    • Geordiegiants

      My thoughts exactly, as long as it’s not the stinkas buying us, let’s get rid of the parasite.

    • Oooh bobbi fleckman

      Mmm you don’t know the meaning of the word. Why are all your contribution such meaningless tripe?

  • wishfull thinker

    Yes these other clubs have not reached the heights expected but they all had investment just not with someone like Rafa spending the money. You know he’s going to want a minimum of half a billion so fingers crossed they insist on the land out front as part of any deal

    • Mumbles

      I’d imagine that he’d want more than that.

  • Scottpaige

    Thing is about it all. Some awful takeovers by similar investor/owners from overseas.

    Be careful what you wish for. I can’t forgive Ashley for what he’s done to the club. Better the devil you know? I really don’t know this time

    • Soldier

      most of the top clubs are owned by overseas owners, the one`s with English owners have an awful habit of getting relegated

      • Scottpaige

        Leeds villa wolves Birmingham. Need I go on

        • Damon Horner

          or English clubs with english owners not relegated, Stoke, Palace, West Ham and Spurs (Everton until recently), even Burnley survived ahead of two foreign owners.

  • Kazie

    Wolves, Villa and Birmingham have Chinese owners but are they better?…and so does West brom…If we get Chinese owners will we be amongst the best in the league?????…or will it come back to bite us and have us actually begging for Ashley to come back..because at the moment he seems like a different man when it comes to transfers especially seeing him getting rid of the head coach title….I’m not saying that I want him to stay but for every good owner comes a Vincent tan who will ruin the club…

    • Leazes Ender

      Nobody is begging for Shepherd to come back….. and nobody will mourn this bas**** incumbent. The club and its fans have more problems than just ownership…. our fans lack a purpose other than their role to be pointed at in derision and the club situated in a league which is largely sown up before it starts.

    • Pelican

      “every good owner comes a Vincent tan who will ruin the club…”

      There are probably 100 good owners for every 1 Vincent Tan. To say 50% of Football club owners are like Vincent Tan is just wrong.

    • Keeganontherebound

      Not to mention Blackburn. I live just up the road from them and they are a complete shambles. I don’t like Ashley and he’s been toxic for the club in many ways but right now we’re not in a bad position with a world class manager who’s apparently happy with his transfer budget. I’d say there’s more of a chance of things getting worse than better…

  • Leazes Ender

    Better the Devil you know….Better the Devil you don’t know…. I don’t want a Devil at all thanks!

    Problem is they will be as accountable as Ashley…. and that was nil…. a change in the law on football club ownership is needed and until that happens the club will suffer at the hands of a new breed of delusional egotistical psychopathic megalomaniac billionaires.

    It has to stop, democratise football and put a ceiling of 5% shares on any club with the bulk of share ownership in the hands of fans attached to every season ticket.

    In the meantime….

    Ashley OUT and take your pet chipmunk Charnley with you!

    • Oooh bobbi fleckman

      Like english football was like in the 70’s and 80’s?

      • HarryHype59

        In terms of English teams teams winning major European club trophies, that was a golden era. Paradoxically, the richer the EPL has become the worse its teams do in the Champions league.

        • Oooh bobbi fleckman

          Perhaps clubs will be able to compete on a level playing field but can you imagine competing with European clubs? As we’re unable to get the best players, tv money falls off and every year if share ownership is limited to 5% and 95% of shares are owned by the fans, every time the club needs money, the shareholding fans will have to cough up the £20m for a new player, I think we’ll just see Man u and Liverpool dominate .

          • HarryHype59

            Or…we could develop players and build teams just like Nottingham Forest and Liverpool did.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            Except you can say goodbye to English teams buying Shilton, Trevor Francis, viv ANderson, woodcock, Beardsley, Barnes etc. The money would all be elsewhere so the equivalents of those players will be like the French and Spanish players right now and moving to the money leagues.

        • Lord

          …and the worse the English National team is too…..

  • Jimblag23

    Hahaha I love how people bang on constantly wanting Ashley to leave and now it’s all, “better the devil you know” 😂

    • Geordiegiants

      We do have the most fickle fans in the country, no doubt at all! No wonder the southern media think we are idiots.

  • Alex

    The devil I know has been a tw&t for 9 years of a decade. I’m still not convinced that Ashley ‘changed’ for any other reason than for purely getting his EPL gravy train back. Not going to give him the benefit of any doubt if there are others waiting in the wings. He’s given us the trophy he promised, now he can do one.

  • Toon Army AZ

    Turning a profit with a football club is not easy. So an “investor” who treats the club like a business may inevitably struggle, and put financial constraints on Rafa that will choke the life out of the Rafalution.

    We need an “owner” that treats the club like his cherished sports car. He/she is proud of it, loves to show it off, and is willing to upgrade it with expensive accessories – with little regard to a return on investment. More like Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour, and less like Ashley.

    • Geordiegiants

      DEFINETLY NOT anyone like sheikh Mansour. I detest Jabba with every single fibre of my being, but I would rather be relegated to the fourth division than let any of those lot own our football club!

      • HarryHype59

        Are you for real?

        • Geordiegiants

          Stinkas, dirty stinkas! I would never watch Newcastle again if their type took over.

          • HarryHype59

            I would, as it must be great to have a team that wins things and isn’t just surviving in order to make the owner TV money.

          • Geordiegiants

            That’s where the problem lies, morals, there isn’t any in football anymore. All of those lot with the oil money from the Middle East, are funding terrorism somewhere along the line. They may not support it openly, or have any proven links, but they certainly don’t oppose it.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            Hmmm, I’m with HarryHype59 on this one, I don’t think the language / implication is doing you many favours there. Both your posts were a difficult read and if you made those comments at a match you would be rightly banned from attending football.

          • Geordiegiants

            If I can’t go to a football match for having my own opinion, then who is in the wrong?

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            You can have an opinion but legally you will have to keep those thoughts to yourself. We all remember the newspapers sold outside the Gallowgate end, times have moved on.

          • Geordiegiants

            I am anti Muslim! Their life and ways are against every single thing I believe in morally. There is no debate here, the religion is anti anything they don’t Beleive in, homophobic, anti any other religion or belief, Sexist and controlling.
            There book promotes rape and stoning.
            They are brain washed from the minute they are born.
            Just to clarify, I’m not racist, I’m anti Muslim!

  • Scottpaige

    Rumoured to be…..

    Wang Jianlin

    • David Sheldon

      From Wang’s Wikipedia Page: It is understood every morning Wang Jianlin sings all the verses of the Blaydon Races whilst walking his dog, Bobby (named after former Newcastle United Booby Robson) down by the river. [35

      • Albert Stubbins

        sounds like a complete nutcase then!!

        • David Sheldon

          Aye!

  • Grahame Johnson

    Watching the under 20s in Asia their was few south Koreans and ex pats wearing toon tops as well as their bairns, on match day their is a good amount of Asian students decked out in black and white, last season all that is good with Newcastle city and team was on show. Chinese sponsors jumped in at the first chance, once our strips have been on sale for a bit and no doubt the massive amount sold the whole package is as attractive as it has ever been under Ashley he may sell as his reputation or ego will not get hurt

  • Steve Smith

    After giving it some thought if a sale were to happen then it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Ashley likes money. He’s not going to sell the club on the cheap. Anyone wanting to buy from him will have to be interested in a long term project and won’t be able to make a quick opportunistic few quid.

    My biggest concern is if something looks like it could happen and then this drags on for weeks. Transfers aren’t going to happen If there’s a realistic chance of a takeover, until the takeover is settled one way or the other.

    • HarryHype59

      I fear a Glazier /Man U type scenario in which new owners borrow money to buy the club and then count that money as the club debt. The debt services at Man U is eye watering. If Ashley sells the club for the price he wants there is more chance of this happening.

      • Steve Smith

        I would certainly be very cautious of that type of scenario but from a neutral point of view I have to say they have been very successful as owners.

        Yes they’ve no doubt taken some money out of the club for themselves but you have to spend money to make money. Man U are generating more revenue under them, have won countless trophies, have become a much, much stronger brand all while making stupidly expensive player signings.

        • Oooh bobbi fleckman

          Steve, I’d be amazed if you met anyone who agreed with that.

          • Steve Smith

            Then it’s fortunate that I’m not looking for an echo chamber and that I’m just stating facts!

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            Good, as in not surcumbing to groupthink. You do have a point but the big issue is the debt that has been created at Man utd was not created to grow the revenue but to provide liquidity for the owners (particularly the Glazier’s class of shareholder) to pull money out. As we at nufc have seen at nufc, this can go badly wrong when success wavers and the supply of money runs out.

          • HarryHype59

            So are you suggesting a leveraged buy out like the Glaziers at Man U, could benefit NUFC? Even Bobbi agrees with me on that one. We are not a global brand and it would end in tears.

        • HarryHype59

          They are longer an elite club in terms of success on the pitch.

      • Oooh bobbi fleckman

        A levered buyout would be a disaster, it’s unlikely a Chinese consortium would do this though.

        Just be aware of why a buyer would come in. MA was very clear when he came in, he wanted a prominent club to market SD. That’s likely to be the case with any Chinese investment. Anyone who deals with the Chinese in business will also know that they want their pound of flesh for their money.

        Now, back in Feb, the information I had was that the new shirt sponsorship discussions included an interest in options to buy part of the club (not a takeover)

  • MadMag83

    Are they sure some source hasn’t just overhead Ashley deciding what he wants to eat?

    • lukegte

      A Chinese billionaire wouldn’t feed that fat f*cker…

  • lukegte

    I’m not getting my hopes up. I’d love MA to sell and move on. I doubt anyone with the money to persuade him to sell would be interested in offering any less than every penny the club earns (which is exactly what MA has offered and frankly, based on experience, I don’t believe him.) So as far as I’m concerned we should be positive about the motives of potential new owners. But as I said, I’m not getting my hopes up.

  • hetonmag

    Hope it’s true just so we can get rid of that horrible advertising hoarding.

  • HarryHype59

    I am no fan of this regime. However, knowing the luck of this club the new owners could be on par with the Leeds Utd owner and the Venkys.

  • HarryHype59

    Ashley maybe a poor owner BUT! he is no mug in the world of business. The Sky TV money has peaked and if viewing figures continue to fall the bubble will pop resulting in much lower TV earnings. He may think he’s getting out at the peak of TV incomes.

    Knowing our luck this club will end up with a Venky, Tan type owner.

    • Oooh bobbi fleckman

      Sky TV has been hit by freeloaders with Kodi and Mobodro but the world audience is growing.

      • HarryHype59

        Viewing figures are 14% down. That has grave implications for future deals. Your hero maybe a carp owner but he is no mug business wise. The Sky TV income may well have popped.

        • Oooh bobbi fleckman

          It may well have peaked in the UK (which is why I referenced Kodi & Mobodro) what I’m saying is there appears still to be scope for worldwide TV revenue to grow. Overall, we may see a flattening of income but not a huge fall.

          • HarryHype59

            Can you imagining Sky being able to enforce people watching EPL games via illegal streaming in places like Asia and other parts of the developing world? The decline of the UK market is significant. The EPL TV deals may have peaked which explains Fatlads willingness to sell.

          • Oooh bobbi fleckman

            Sky don’t have the rights outside their own territory. They may provide the filming but it’s the Star network, fox etc.

            I think MA’s willingness to sell is more down to a willing bidder.

  • Geordie-7676

    I have said it before, and now with this news i will say it again:

    Ashley may of made many mistakes, dragged us through the doldrums and appeared to of done everything in his power to bring this club to its knees, but none of it has been intentional. Nobody buys a football club with the intention of ruining it.

    Ashley has been ill advised, and to a certain extent, played a similar strategy card to the one he uses in his other business ventures. Unfortunately that strategy just does not work in the footballing world.

    Over the last 18 months he appears to of had a dawn of realisation; he has made all the right noises (albeit not very often and quietly – more in action than literal audible expression) and has actively pursued change.

    I am not saying, and never will say that he is the owner we need at this club, nor is he to be desired in any sense of the word, but sometimes it IS better to stick rather than twist.

    An Asian owner may not necessarily be a bad thing, but a consortium offers multitudes of problems, ranging from inner political arguments to financial disputes and strategy complaints, all of which can seriously hinder our ability to operate successfully.

    If this comes to fruition, i just hope we don’t end up with a consortium…..it would be a disaster in the long run it really would!

    • HarryHype59

      Consortiums are also more likely to lead to a leveraged buy out. Now that would be worrying.

  • edward alderson

    A buy out would mean nothing ,if the tax man takes us to task,which is still on the cards


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