Moat’s course may yet be damned.
Posted on August 25th, 2009 | 45 Comments |
Our favourite mackem Louise Taylor demonstrates surprising knowledge of the club’s confidential banking details, which form the crux of her latest article in The Guardian.
According to Ms Taylor and her inevitable ‘sources’, we have a £40m overdraft facility, on which we currently owe £20m. On Tuesday Barclays were planning to renew that facility but with only a £10m limit, which is in line with what they usually allow for Championship clubs.
Apparently Ashley has the funds to cover the £10m shortfall but – The Guardian claims – Moat does not and if he can’t persuade Barclays to break with their Championship-lending policies and allow him to have a £20m overdraft, then his takeover effort will fail.
It seems that Moat had already persuaded a North East branch of Barclays to underwrite a £20m overdraft based on the ‘special circumstances’ of Newcastle United and the club’s unusually large crowds for the Championship, but someone at head office then vetoed the idea.
The Telegraph’s take on matters is quite different. They claim that Moat does not want the £39m overdraft facility that Barclays extended to Ashley and that it’s Moat himself who wants to reduce the overdraft to a more manageable level. The means of funding that overdraft reduction remains the same though: selling players.
The Telegraph’s assessment seems to be at odds with the club’s statement though. The club said: “The extension has been granted in order to allow Barry Moat and his advisors to conclude funding arrangements with Barclays, current bankers, for the continuation of last season’s £39m facility,” which would imply to me that The Guardian’s guesswork is better.
Who knows though. It’s probably something completely different to either assessment.
The Telegraph’s article does go on to point out that we’re due the first instalment of a £13m ‘parachute payment’ soon, which will be handy in reducing some debt. Although after the summer we’ve had at the hands of the club it feels more like our parachute didn’t open at all and we’re stuck, legs akimbo, in a tree somewhere after a 10,000ft freefall.
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.
oh please just sort something out!! going to be a mad rush on monday and tuesday for loan signings… i can see it now!