It certainly seems that most of the big Premier league clubs will soon be in foreign hands.
Mike Ashley – Newcastle owner selling to foreign investors
While it would be good if we had some Geordie Billionaires to buy the club, it seems there are not too many of them around, and it’s a certainty that Newcastle will be sold to foreign owners.
Mike Ashley was one of the few English billionaires who was interested in buying a club, but Mike wanted to restrict his investment each year to £20M. That wouldn’t have been too bad, but the found the club in more debt than he realized, after failing to do the normal due diligence and had to pump £100M in, to reduce that debt.
It seems like that curtailed the spending on new players, and in the summer our net outlay was less than £2M, nowhere near the £20M he had allocated.
Keith Harris, a former chairman of the Football League, and now Executive Chairman at Seymour Pierce investment bank said that Newcastle are certainly attracting interest:
“Newcastle are a huge iconic brand and we are attracting interest.”
“I think if there is going to be an investor it probably won’t come from England unless we uncover a trillionaire Geordie who wants to buy it.”
Newcastle being a huge iconic brand may shock some local Newcastle supporters but that old saying “wherever you go you’re bound to meet a Geordie” is so true – and usually of course they are fanatic Newcastle supporters of course.
Newcastle is a bigger global brand than we may realize and Kevin Keegan in the 1990s had something to do with that, as he made Newcastle one of the best teams to watch in England.
In the last week or so things have gone rather quiet, and of course the worldwide credit crunch will not be helping things, but the club must be sold before the January transfer window opens, so we can strengthen our squad, which is just far too small, but full of quality.
Comments welcome.
28 comments so far
beyethegreat
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Comment #1we will be sold soon hopefully
Gregory
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Comment #2Keegan is a fool.. Hope the new owners don’t put him back in place, because apparantly his ego is far bigger than the love for this club.
ronaldeano
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Comment #3@Gregory, YOU are the fool son
Nick 69
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Comment #4yes u are a fool gregory
Macas
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Comment #5That ‘fool’ stopped us getting relegated to the old second division, and led us to near the top of the Premiership, playing some great football along the way.
Nick C
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Comment #6I don’t like that word “IF”
It seems it is not exactly a fait accompli regarding our prospective sale.
To move forward we need MA gone.
beyethegreat
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Comment #7keegan is anything but a fool
Micky Toon
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Comment #8Macas that was in the past, we need to stop living in the past and reflecting on past glories.
After reading the statement on a buyer being hard to find due to the current economic climate and now this, I think they are struggling to sell the club. This statement is obviously massive spin that has been put out to try and generate some positive feeling around the club and the area.
Only the oil rich arabs and russians are immune to this “credit crunch” so any buyer who is going to invest heavily in the club is going to have to come from those areas.
Nobby'sDad
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Comment #9We don’t want the new owners to be people who rely on borrowing money. If Ashely just cuts his price he’ll sell…..if he doesn’t we could go down as he’s stated he’ll not buy any players in January and Owen will leave. Hard times ahead!
Irish John
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Comment #10Gregory talking boll*x
Macas
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Comment #11Micky Toon – I was simply showing that Keegan is anything but a fool. Some people on these boards tend to show him very little respect, when in fact he is our greatest manager of recent times.
Micky Toon
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Comment #12Forgot to say all of this talk about generating a lot of interest and having 8 interested parties is just classic sales talk. If you can convince someone that they might miss out on something they want because others are interested then you will pay more to make sure you get it. It also helps to attract people to a duff buy. If you are the only one who is interested in a risky purchase then you will start to doubt yourself and walk away.
I’m convinced no one is interested in NUFC. I have my own opinons on why, but ther aren’t for this conversation.
Nobby'sDad
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Comment #13Micky Toon ……..or from Asia or China.There are some very cash rich Chinese…..extend the stadium to the top of Stowell Street! Fantastic, I have a vision.
Daddy'sNob
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Comment #14well said Nobby son
SAGeordie
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Comment #15Gregory, in the old days you could be cast in chains for speaking ill of the King.
Chris G
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Comment #16Micky Toon – you’ve made some very good points there. I thought you might be interested to read this, if you haven’t seen it already
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/10/premierleague-newcastleunited
Stamford Toon
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Comment #17Macas; You have got it wrong. Sir Bobby was our greatest manager of recent times. It was him who made us the second favourite club in the country for fans of other clubs. He made a sustained attack on the top of the premiership (not a one off charge) and kept us in Europe for several seasons. Not only that he was a gentleman who would not break an agreemnt or walk out on a club.
Macas
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:58 AM
Comment #18Stamford Toon – Afraid we’ll have to disagree on this one! I think the finishes Keegan had in the Prem were marginally better than Robson’s. It was Keegan’s ‘Entertainers’ that had fans of other teams supporting us. And being a gentleman doesn’t really come into it!
selly no skill
Oct 10, 2008 at 1:16 PM
Comment #19keegans no fool gregory mate,but i’m with you in the fact he shouldnt come back now.we need stability and kk cant offer it.he’s a top blokle and a good short term plan but we’ve had short term blokes for the last 4 years now and its nearly recked us.get new owners and install shearer as the main man.he would be like keane for the mackems.but better.he demands respect and he wont quit like keegan.shearers love for the toon is unconditional.
toonfan
Oct 10, 2008 at 2:18 PM
Comment #20chris g – nice article mate, thees a lass who writes for the gaurdian who is also a nufc supporter.. all the crap that all the press is against us is crap…yea so the sale is in doubt at the min eh.
it was the ashley wont spend owt in the jan transfer window if hes still in charge that was the worst bit in the article…frightening if that scene pans out eh….troubling times ahead i reckon.
when his sports direct has taken that amount of hammering, i find it difficult to see him lowering the sale price of nufc….this club, even by our standards is going rnd and rnd in bloody circles…lets just hope someone comes in and stops this madness, coz if we dont buy in jan then were in big R trouble…IMO.
baz
Oct 10, 2008 at 5:35 PM
Comment #21anil ambani buying charlton!!! sky sports news!
baz
Oct 10, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Comment #22sorry zabeel investment group
pete
Oct 10, 2008 at 5:50 PM
Comment #23kfc anyone?
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/nufc/KFC-boss-to-take-over.4580680.jp
chuck
Oct 10, 2008 at 6:15 PM
Comment #24NUFC an iconic brand, well no actually, Juventus yes, certainly.
And for everyones sake stop elevating KK to sainthood you guys , instead look at his record.
daydeburt
Oct 10, 2008 at 7:28 PM
Comment #25eds quote: January transfer window opens, so we can strengthen our squad, which is just far too small, but full of quality.
No its not full of quality!!!
maybe compared to blyth spartans.
you are easily pleased, it a squad with a few decent players, but way short of any real european challenge.
shah
Oct 10, 2008 at 9:11 PM
Comment #26Gregory you are the weakest link! You are also the bigget fool………
Keegan is NEWCASTLE
Chris G
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:02 PM
Comment #27toonfan – yeah, that bit in the article about the lack of spending in the jan transfer window really worried me too. Let’s all pray that something gets sorted out soon before it’s too late.
jude
Oct 11, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Comment #28sorry i can’t help but think you all who think keegan is nothing but shite are idiots…
how many times can a man run away from something he’s comiitted too..
chicken…cat grabbed his balls….f***en bastard…he’s split and plunged into this mess with idiotic fans like you and u still have the audacity to follow and respect him
says a lot aba ur character