Ashley reneges on terms he promised Moat.
Posted on October 27th, 2009 | 159 Comments |
What the article says is that whilst Ashley had previously rejected Moat’s offer to take £40m down and £40m at the end of the season, the pair had reached agreement earlier last week for a deal involving £60m down and £20m at the end of the season.
However when Barry Moat made such an offer on Friday, Ashley – after considering it for a few days – rejected the offer anyway, insisting he now wants the whole £80m up-front.
The Telegraph speculates that Ashley is playing hardball with Moat to give any other bidders a chance to show their hand.
To be fair, once I get past my desire to see the back of him, I have a certain amount of sympathy with Ashley over this. He has insisted he wanted £100m up front for virtually all the time the club has been on the market this summer, then he compromised and said he’d take £80m. Moat has his 20% discount so it’s really up to him to put up or shut up.
Although it is poor form if Ashley had promised Moat that a 60-20 deal would be acceptable and then reneged on it.
Then there’s the issue of Moat’s financial backing to consider. If he is struggling to raise the £80m we have to wonder if he’s the best man to take over the club. I’d rather stick with Ashley than have an owner who can’t afford to run the club – it’s a case of better the devil you know. Of course I don’t know the state of Moat’s finances and for all I know he could have plenty of cash and is merely trying to get the best deal he can.
We also have to consider whether Ashley is now considering keeping the club and hoping for promotion, after which he’d be able to command a higher fee for the club anyway. Despite losing a net 7 players in the summer and surviving on loaned players we’re top of the Championship table after nearly a third of the season, so Ashley might be thinking we now stand a good chance of a strong finish.
The Telegraph indicates that Moat is determined to buy the club though, so maybe this deal isn’t finished yet. I think we’ll know when it’s truly dead and buried because Chris Hughton will be officially confirmed as permanent manager.
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.
Ashely never had any intention of selling. And for all the talk of Barry Moat this, Barry Moat that, not one word has came from his own lips to even suggest he wants to buy the club in the first place. Shearer has came clean and said that Barry Moat has not even asked him to be manager or anything either, so where does all this waffle come from too? it is all media crap and nothing more. It is a shame that media no longer need to print truth and are allowed by law to print blatant rubbish as and when they feel like it. There are no more newspapers in the UK – just the Daily-lie papers.
If Ashley turned down 300 million from Abu Dhabi investemnt company (now man city owners – damn!!) why would he be considering selling us for 80 now? It aint going to happen – ever.