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New media claims on Newcastle United takeover – No Deal

5 years ago
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Sunday morning has seen further press media ‘updates’ on the Newcastle United takeover situation.

Billed as ‘exclusives’, you have to be sceptical as to whether you could even class them as ‘updates’ when you read them.

First up, you have The Sun, who claim that the Peter Kenyon led bid ‘looks dead in the water’, recycling previous media reports that said his bidders were £100m short of the supposed £300m Mike Ashley asking price.

They report that to get around the shortfall, Kenyon’s bidders have came up with a number of proposals where by the extra £100m would be paid only if reaching ‘certain goals’, though they name only one, which is that the money would be paid if NUFC qualified for the Champions League within 10 years of purchasing the club.

The Sun claiming that Mike Ashley has rejected this/these offer(s).

Second up, you have The Mirror.

They have a different but very similar story, though they claim that when it comes to any potential clauses to help a deal happen, it is a price drop if relegated this season, that Mike Ashley has supposedly rejected.

Whereas The Sun claim Peter Kenyon’s bidders don’t have the cash to buy the club, The Mirror report all four supposedly interested parties don’t have the cash.

The cynics amongst us/you will no doubt be thinking that this sounds more like simply a case of the newspapers haven’t got a club and are providing an update/exclusive for updates/exclusives sake.

None of them name any of these other supposed interested bidders apart from the Garry Cook claimed link some weeks ago but like the Peter Kenyon storyline, nobody is able to say who would, or as appears to be the case – wouldn’t, be putting the money up.

Simply saying nothing happening and we haven’t a clue if anything is going to, doesn’t quite make it as a decent headline.

All of us can see that Newcastle United has not been sold yet and until it does, nothing changes for the vast majority of us.

Hope for the best but always fearing the worst.

The Sun:

PETER KENYON’S bid to take over Newcastle looks dead in the water.

His offer is still £100million adrift of Mike Ashley’s asking price.

Former Manchester United and Chelsea chief Kenyon has come up with a way of increasing the original £200m he and his consortium have at their disposal.

But extraordinarily, for owner Ashley to get the £300m he wants, Newcastle would have to qualify for the Champions League in the next decade.

Kenyon has been working with the American Rockerfeller Capital Management to raise extra cash but the additional £100m would depend on the club reaching certain goals.

One of them would be to finish in the Prem top four within ten years. Ashley has rejected that suggestion, wanting all the money up front.

The Mirror:

Newcastle have been dealt a double new year body-blow, with takeover talks on the verge of collapse and plans for the imminent January transfer window non-existent.

Beleaguered Toon fans believed a new owner at St James’ Park would provide manager Rafa Benitez with transfer funds and give the club a fresh impetus. But hopes that unpopular owner Mike Ashley might sell-up soon have been dashed — NONE of the four suitors has ready cash to do a deal.

Matters have not been helped because Ashley has not granted exclusivity in any dealings with any of the parties interested in purchasing the club.

Uncertainty remains over whether any of the four actually have the necessary funds — the owner of Sports Direct wants to make sure they have the ability to do any deal before proper negotiations get underway.

Privately, Ashley has made it clear that any of them looking to do a cut-price deal in the event of relegation this season will be disappointed.

Prospective new owners possibly hoping to secure Newcastle on the cheap if Benitez cannot pull off his ‘miracle’ have been told it won’t be possible and that Ashley would rather take his chances again in the second tier, as he did under Benitez three years ago when the Magpies went straight back up as champions, than off-load Tyneside’s sleeping giants having slashed the asking price.

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