Get out of this toonAccording to a statement the club made to The Journal, Ashley’s £100m asking price has been met and ‘all parties are at the sale and purchase stage‘, which sounds a bit different to any parties I’ve been to.
The Journal then goes on to speculate that it could still be some time before the takeover situation is resolved and they quote ‘sources’ who say the club has just renegotiated a £25m overdraft with Barclays, reduced from last seasons £39m facility.
The Journal further speculates that Barry Moat is behind the £100m offer but that Barclays are not prepared to offer him the same £25m overdraft facility they’ll offer to Ashley.
‘Sources’ have apparently also confirmed that 2 overseas parties are also still interested in the club and have progressed beyond the due diligence phase, although they haven’t yet made formal offers.
So what can we make of this? I suspect our decent start to the season has encouraged Ashley to think about the possibilities of promotion. If he hangs onto the club and we do get promoted, he’ll probably be able to at least double his asking price. Although he’ll be taking a risk in doing that – we might not get promoted and the club may then be worth less than it is now and his potential buyers might have disappeared. (more…)
40,000 crowds help MoatThe 40,000 crowds we’ve been getting at home games could help Barry Moat’s attempts to take over Newcastle United Football Club.
According to a recent article in The Journal, Moat’s original business plan was based on the Toon attracting 25,000 for home games. I have no idea how The Journal knows that but if we assume it’s true for a minute then the 15,000 additional fans we’ve been attracting could provide leverage for Moat in his negotiations with Barclays about the overdraft.
To be honest, I still wonder what the actual cost of the club will be to Moat or any other potential buyer. We know Ashley’s asking £100m and it has been suggested that the club has drawn £20m on it’s £40m overdraft facility but it’s still not clear to me what happens about the £100m Ashley loaned to the club to clear the debts. (more…)
Rob Lee - back in the dayOn what is an extremely slow news day so far, I managed to find an article in City AM about Rob Lee’s new role as an investment guru for sportsmen and other high net-worth individuals.
Lee does make a few comments about the current Toon situation though and when asked if Ashley was just throwing up a smokescreen by keeping Shearer hanging on for the manager’s job, he says:
“Yes, yes. If you put Alan Shearer in charge he is going to want to improve the club, and he is going to want money. I think the cheaper way is what [Ashley] is doing. By not appointing Alan he hasn’t got to spend any more money.”
I think many people have suspected as much anyway. Just after relegation Ashley described the appointment of Shearer as ‘the best decision he ever made’ but that was when he was planning to hold onto the club and rebuild it. Of course, now that he’s decided to sell it he won’t want to spend any more money on it than he has to.
I don’t necessarily mean that latter statement as a criticism. It stands to reason that if you’re selling something you’ll only spend what’s necessary to secure the sale and long-term investment is pointless. Although if you’re struggling to sell you might have to reconsider matters. (more…)
Thumbs-up for MoatThe Telegraph is claiming that talks between the club and Barry Moat are scheduled and that a deal could be agreed imminently. The key word in that sentence is ‘could‘ though, so let’s wait and see how it actually turns out.
The Telegraph’s claims do seem at odds with Keith Harris’s last statement on matters, which seemed to indicate that no deal was ‘imminent’ and that things would just bubble along until Chrismas or beyond.
Ashley did of course extend the deadline to give Moat more time to put the deal together and it seems to me that this deal is the only one with any chance at all of succeeding. But those chances seemed remote at best as Moat was reported to be struggling to meet Ashley’s £100m price and sort out the overdraft with Barclays.
However, let’s not forget that all this talk of Moat’s financial inadequacy has arisen from press speculation with very few quotes from anyone who might actually be in the know. Having said that, the current article in The Telegraph is the same in that respect. (more…)
The hopeful faithfulYoung or old, lad or lass, living just round the corner or at the other side of the world, if you’re a Newcastle fan then you’re in all the way. Over-the-moon one minute and kicked in the teeth the next, you learn to deal with adversity early on or you sink with the tide of pessimism. That’s what being a Mag is all about, it’s what being a football supporter is all about. Dealing with the swings and roundabouts and dealing with the cliches (ahem).
Life as a Newcastle fan is never dull and the last two years have been a prime example of how the club can leave you in despair. It brings out the best and worst in us. It means so much to us that it fills almost our every living moment and not least our dreams of future glory. Yet we find ourselves with the soul of the club ripped out and fans fighting amongst themselves, such is the torment of recent events. And still inexplicably, the fans with no reason other than the love for their club turn up in their thousands. Pilloried for their loyalty but proud of their faith in something which will always mean more than winning trophies and trading one-up-manships with rival supporters. (more…)
