What's gannin on Mike?Still nothing on the takeover and some reports have indicated that Ashley has not set a deadline for completion, although I think it’s reasonable to assume that some sort of deadline will eventually be set to allow him time to do some work on the transfer market if he has to keep the club.
As we know, the press often claim to have ‘sources’ giving them the inside story on these things, but there seem to be lots of contradictory opinions about this takeover and I doubt the validity of these ‘sources’ even more than usual given the strict non-disclosure agreements signed by Ashley and the bidders.
For example, depending upon what you read, Barry Moat is either the only bidder with a hope of taking over Newcastle United or he’s way out of the running and instead two unnamed bidders are much more in contention.
As to the manager situation, for all we know a lot of that could be a ploy by Ashley to make it look like he’s serious about staying on if necessary, sending a message to potential bidders that they’d better not wait until the last minute in the hope that he’ll lose his nerve and accept a low bid.
Then again, he certainly will need a manager if he doesn’t sell, so sounding out various managers is no bad idea anyway.
What I’m really saying is that I think a lot of what the press are writing is a load of old toot and we may as well just wait for something official. (more…)
Jonas pleads for exitThe Daily Mail is reporting that Barry Moat must find another £10m for his offer if he wants to buy Newcastle United after Ashley is said to be ‘insulted’ by his current offer. Let’s have a whip round.
The Guardian speculates that Moat is making his bid with backing from local nightclub owner Allan Rankin, rather than the previously speculated ‘American Backers’, and that the two have set up a new company called Tandem Bars specifically for the purposes of acquiring the club.
The vacant manager’s position gets some exposure with The Shields Gazette claiming that four managers have been short-listed by Ashley, should he keep the club. They claim those managers are David O’Leary, Gordon Strachan, Alan Curbishley and some unnamed ‘overseas manager’.
The Telegraph goes one better and claims five managers have been short-listed although it doesn’t name any others beyond the three listed by The Shields Gazette. Any advance on five? Surely one of the papers could manage six. (more…)
Duff on target for the Toon.We got our Championship campaign under way with a 1-1 draw at West Brom last night.
In the first half we looked the more fluent side in possession but, rather like last season, the final ball into the box often lacked quality. Duff probably had the best chance of the half when Carroll set him up from 20 yards, but he shot wide.
Our defence was typically fragile and we can be thankful that The Baggies failed to capitalise on some of the early chances they had. They got their goal on 39 minutes though when Harper failed to clear from a set piece and a scramble in the box saw Shelton Martis punt it home.
During the goal mouth free-for-all, Ameobi tried to clear Harper’s head off the line and, although the goalkeeper played on until the whistle, he was substituted for Krul at half-time.
After the goal our heads went down a bit and there seemed to be some bickering amongst the players, but we managed to make it to the interval without conceding again. (more…)
In terms of the management situation, the club have apparently ruled out the idea that Kinnear will return – although there’s nothing on NUFC’s official site to that effect – and The Mail are claiming that David O’Leary has also turned down the opportunity to become manager. This latter claim by The Mail contains no direct quotes from O’Leary though, so it could just be nonsense.
An awful lot is printed about Newcastle these days but, besides the confirmed transfers, most of it just appears to be speculation, so there is little of substance to actually report today.
The Barry Moat situation dominated most of the speculation yesterday but The Chronicle wonders if that’s all a ruse to flush out other bidders, which wouldn’t surprise me at all. (more…)
Barry MoatThe Guardian reports that the sale of Newcastle United is imminent.
Apparently Ashley is being urged to accept a bid from a consortium led by Tyneside businessman Barry Moat. It is thought that Moat, who has financial backing from investors in the United States, is Keith Harris’s preferred bidder. The Guardian speculates that if Moat gets the club he will favour Alan Shearer as manager.
Additional reports on this issue can be found in The Times, The Chronicle, The Journal and The Sun, but I would suggest remaining cautious about this news until a formal announcement is made from the club. There is no guarantee that Ashley will accept any bid recommended by Harris (assuming the stories are true in the first place).
There were reports yesterday that the club had, incredibly, offered Joe Kinnear a two-year contract. This was covered last night in an article on this site, so I don’t really need to mention it too much here except to say that there’s an article in The Times that claims the club is denying offering Kinnear a contract and insists ‘he has his wires crossed’. (more…)
