An unlikely story That’s what The Daily Star claims anyway.
Basically what they’re saying is that Moat can’t get the money together to buy the club but Ashley plans to take the club off the market and appoint him as chairman. Moat will then apparently appoint Shearer as manager and take charge of the day-to-day running of the club with Ashley taking a back seat.
The Star then goes on to say that Shearer plans to bring £6m rated Michael Chopra back to the Toon as his first signing.
And all this will happen within the next 48 hours.
The Star’s short article contains no direct quotes from anyone, not even from unnamed ‘sources’ or ‘insiders’, so the temptation is to treat the story with as much scorn as the one about Naughty Noirin’s views on how to save Big Brother (not that I’ve read it of course). (more…)
All things ToonIn the absence of my esteemed ‘news round-up’ colleague, here’s a briefing of some of today’s newsworthy pieces concerning our dearest club. And a low-key announcement that the ‘news round-up’ is no more (sorry MT).
First and foremost, our old favourite the ‘sale saga’ and as documented by workyticket in amused fashion last night, we’re hearing a little more about Geoff Sheard’s latest involvement. Sheard has now clearly stated that he is only acting as the middle man in the proposed new bid for ownership of the club.
He is allegedly acting on behalf of a multi-billion pound New-York-based company, who are seeking to push through a deal before the end of Big Mike’s self-imposed one-week deadline. The Chronicle suggest the consortium is led by someone with big links in US Sports and that the group will aim to deploy Omnicom Group to rebrand us globally.
Speaking to The Chronicle, Sheard had this to say: (more…)
The bank that might like to say noMuch speculation has ensued after yesterday’s announcement that the club is giving Barry Moat more time to negotiate an overdraft facility with Barclays Bank.
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. (more…)
Time to say goodbye?Well if Carlsberg did a line in anti-climax then today’s official statement would be a great start. A collective holding of breath over the weekend, enough to cause a Toon Army Tsunami on release, had us all exhaling in disappointment at the progress report announcing that….well there is no progress really, just another extension on the deadline. But we’re used to it by now, right?
Nothing to report then? Well not strictly true, depending on how you interpret the message and it still managed to get tongues wagging. The statement reads as follows –
NEWCASTLE United Football Club confirms that it has extended its deadline to Barry Moat to table an offer for the Club.
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.
This would allow a formal offer to be tabled
So what does it mean exactly?
Well crucially, it potentially means Moat can’t be too far away from the finishing line if his business plan has enough credibility to get to this stage. The key word in the second paragraph is conclude, which suggests there is merely a decision left to be made by Barclays on whether or not they will continue to allow the overdraft facility based on Moat’s business plan. (more…)
NEWCASTLE United Football Club confirms that it has extended its deadline to Barry Moat to table an offer for the Club.
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.
This would allow a formal offer to be tabled.
It does tell us that Barry Moat is probably the only remaining serious contender and that the Barclays overdraft/loan facility will be the deciding factor in whether or not a successful bid is tabled. If Barclays cooperate then I assume it’s just up to Ashley to decide whether to accept the offer or not.
