Ashley to remain for nowThe following announcement was made on the Newcastle United site tonight:
NEWCASTLE United are delighted to announce that Chris Hughton has been named the permanent manager of the Club, his contract will run until the end of the 2010/11 season.
At the same time the Club has confirmed that it has been withdrawn from sale and is no longer on the market.
The Club had been trying to broker a deal with a number of prospective buyers in recent months however none of those deals came to fruition. With regard to the possible sale of the Club to Barry Moat, that particular bid has now fallen through due to the cash price of £80m not being met.
In confirming the news, Mike Ashley stated that he is totally committed to the future success of Newcastle United and will be focussing on gaining promotion back to the Premier League. Mike will put a further £20m into the Club this week.
Derek Llambias, Managing Director of Newcastle United, said:
“We are delighted that Chris has accepted the post of full time manager. He has done a terrific job this season and we wish him every success for the rest of this season and beyond. He will continue to receive our full backing and support.” (more…)
What's the deal guys?According to an article posted on The Telegraph’s site late last night, Mike Ashley has turned down Barry Moat’s latest £80m bid for Newcastle United even though he’d previously said he’d accept the bid on the terms specified.
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. (more…)
Gis a jobAlan Shearer says he would still love the Newcastle United manager’s job but is also prepared to consider managing other clubs.
At the end of last season it seemed almost certain that Shearer would be given the Toon job despite failing to keep us in the Premier League. Ashley had described employing Shearer as ‘the best decision he ever made’ and Shearer had drawn up plans about how he intended to rebuild the club and take us back to the top flight.
Then of course Mike Ashley put the club up for sale. Whether that had anything to do with Shearer’s rebuilding plans is unknown but it’s understandable that Ashley would be reluctant to appoint to Shearer – or commit to a long-term rebuilding plan – if he planned to sell the club.
The press has always stated that if Barry Moat took control of the club then Shearer’s appointment as manager would swiftly follow but it seems that Ashley, should he stay, would prefer Chris Hughton instead. (more…)
Toon top table ... justNewcastle United manager-in-waiting Chris Hughton, heaped praise on the players after the 2-1 win over Doncaster Rovers at the weekend.
Rumours suggested that Hughton would be appointed as permanent manager before the game but there’s been no official confirmation of that, possibly because Ashley is still considering Barry Moat’s latest offer for the club.
Hughton – presumably still in the role of caretaker manager – said of the game:
“We’ve been through everything but credit to the players, they were magnificent and we got the win we deserved.”
I didn’t see the match personally but according to our match report I think ‘magnificent’ might be stretching things a bit. Although to be fair we did have 57% of the possession, 10 on-target shots to their 3 and 8 off-target shots to their 3. (more…)
Ashley - in the red cornerApparently Barry Moat tabled an £80m bid for Newcastle United on Friday and Mike Ashley had to be saved from angry fans by stewards during the away match to Scunny.
Divven get too excited though – it’s News of the World time again.
First, Barry Moat’s bid. Sport of the World has apparently ‘learned’ that Barry Moat put in an £80m bid for Newcastle on Friday after being given the go-ahead by his financial backers.
It seems this bid consists of £60m down plus a finance package to appease Barclays Bank which will see Moat inject another £20m into the club immediately.
I’m a bit confused by the newspaper’s claims here because surely that’s a £60m bid as far as Mike Ashley is concerned isn’t it? Which of course he’ll most probably refuse. Anyway, Moat was supposed to have been promised a decision on Friday but it seems Ashley has since asked for a few more days to consider Moat’s offer. (more…)
