Mike Ashley is poised to end his seven-year reign at St James' Park as he aims to increase his stake at Rangers Mike Ashley is willing to listen to offers to sell Newcastle United as he looks to bring an end to a troubled seven-year reign at St Jamesâ Park. Ashley has become involved in the running of Rangers and is interested in taking complete control. However, he has been prevented from increasing his stake to more than 10 per cent by the Scotland Football Association as he already owns Newcastle. Uefa rules stipulate the same person cannot own two clubs that might meet each other in European competitions, and while neither Rangers or Newcastle are playing in Europe, they could in the future. Rangers are standing on the precipice of administration for the second time in three years and Ashley recognises the opportunity it presents. The billionaire, who made his fortune through his Sports Direct retail chain, has already secured naming rights to Ibrox in return for a stake of nine per cent, although he has not yet taken up that option in order to avoid creating any animosity towards him. Should he take control of Rangers and stabilise the business, he knows there is huge potential to grow if, as should be the case, they return to the Scottish Premier League and, eventually, the Champions League. That has increased Ashleyâs desire to sell Newcastle to a new investor and he could be willing to offload it for around £230 million, which includes repayment of the £129 million he is owed in the form of interest-free loans. Ashley paid just £134 million to buy Newcastle from Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd in 2007. Although the club have not been officially put up for sale as the uncertainty could destabilise the business and unsettle the team, Telegraph Sport understands Ashley would like to sell if he can find someone with the financial muscle to take the club forward. Anyone who claims they are interested in negotiating a price will be asked to pay for the use of a box at St Jamesâ Park for 10 years up front to prove they are serious bidders. Ashley has tried to sell up twice before, but was unable to find a buyer willing to match his asking price. He failed to offload it in the face of angry supporter protests in 2008 immediately after former manager Kevin Keegan resigned. He tried again in 2009 at the knockdown price of just £100 million after relegation to the Championship, but nobody was willing to take on a club that was losing hundreds of thousands of pounds a month outside of the top flight. However, the previous attempts to sell were made during a global recession and Ashley is aware the economic landscape has improved dramatically, particularly in the United States, where interest in âsoccerâ has never been higher. It is thought that Ashley will look closely to see if there are potential buyers on the other side of the Atlantic. Newcastle are in excellent financial shape thanks to the prudency of the Ashley regime and posted a post-tax profit of £9.9 million for the last financial year. That has done little to persuade fans he is the right man to lead the club and there have been persistent accusations of a lack of ambition. Although Ashley sanctioned around £40 million worth of player recruitment this summer, that was paid for almost entirely out of the sale of Yohan Cabaye to Paris Saint-Germain and Mathieu Debuchy to Arsenal. Ashley has been unwilling to invest any of his own money since Newcastle returned to the Premier League and has overseen a dramatic overhaul of the books, securing an increase in commercial revenue, which includes a record shirt-sponsorship deal with loans company Wonga. This has been done in conjunction with a series of cost-cutting measures, including player wages, which fell from £64.1 million to £61.7 million in the last financial year. That represents 64 per cent of the clubâs turnover, well below the Premier League average of 70 per cent. The business is in good shape to sell. Whether Ashley can finally sever ties with a project that turned sour after just 12 months remains to be seen, but he gains little enjoyment from owning Newcastle other than the free advertising it allows for Sports Direct. Although he attended the clubâs last home game, the 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace, his visits to St Jamesâ Park have been increasingly rare since supporters turned against him six years ago. He is not the only one in the firing line. Alan Pardew, the manager, also looks vulnerable after a poll in a local paper showed 85 per cent of fans no longer want him to be in charge and there is a growing risk the ill-feeling will manifest itself in more vocal protests against Southampton this weekend. One group of supporters has even set up a website called âSack Pardewâ. Pardew remained in his dugout during the final home game against Cardiff last season as he was booed and jeered every time he stepped into his technical area.
Will it suddenly be a case of 'better the devil you know' for the Mags? No doubt some of them will dismiss this all as 'just the southern biased media' stirring up trouble. Whatever the case there'll be interesting times ahead and plenty of the usual laughable entertainment from SJP
I doubt it tbh ....... no ground, no chance of ever building their own and loads of work to bring the club up to modern standards. Villa are in the same boat and no one seems interested. West Ham were only bought because they knew they'd be able to sell the site of their current ground.
Spot on smug - makes no sense to buy a business with little on the asset front. No-one knows the true value of most of their players (much like ours and a lot of others clubs TBH) so buying a business with no reasonable knowedge of their value is silly. Some of the Sheik's however have hobbies (and, much like the city oweners, would treat them as such) - but haven't NEwcastle been "for sale" about 10 times and no serious interest has ever materialised?
I said ages ago on the Newcastle board that instead of feeble half arsed protests, the supporters groups should be finding a famous front man to head a consortium to buy the club, they didn't, so now they're relying on somebody with no emotional ties to pay way over the value for a debt riddled club. Who was going to buy Sunderland off Murry? Nobody, Without Quinn stepping in we were ****ed, we just weren't an attractive investment. Newcastle are not an attractive investment.
Could go either way this. Big club, good fanbase and facilities, could appeal. Could just as easily get someone who isn't as business savvy as him. Yes, he's fustrated them with his dealings etc but he has stabilised a club that was on a very rocky road, and made them borderline profitable. If he buys Rangers, they are set basically, a multi billionaire owner in Scotland they will walk everything.
Benefactors with wads of money can't make the difference that they used to be able to do. The financial fair play rules have saw to that..
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/...th-highest-number-of-banning-orders-1-6835526 and this is what any perspective owners have to contend with..
Don't think he's wealthy enough? Would put on a damn good show mind... Mike Ashley Tynefool please log in to view this image Alan Pardew. please log in to view this image
Reason # 74 A Newcastle United club statement regarding the Daily Telegraph Newcastle United has today banned the Daily Telegraph with immediate effect following a report published in its paper yesterday (Thursday, 11th September), headlined 'Newcastle United For Sale As Ashley Eyes Rangers', as well as a follow-up article from the same reporter which appears in the Daily Telegraph today (Friday, 12th September). The reports by Luke Edwards on 11th September, and again today (12th September), are wholly inaccurate and written with the intention of unsettling the Club, players and its supporters. This is disgraceful journalism for which the Club and its supporters should receive a full and unreserved apology from those concerned. The truth is Mike Ashley remains committed to Newcastle United. For the avoidance of doubt, this means that for the remainder of this season and AT LEAST until the end of next season, Mike Ashley will not, under any circumstances, sell Newcastle United at any price. The Club cannot be stronger in stating its position on this matter. It is not acceptable for newspapers to print factually inaccurate reports that are damaging to the Club and to fail to check facts with Newcastle United ahead of publication and then expect to receive access to the Club. Newcastle United will not tolerate this and will take such action as it deems appropriate. The ban extends to all reporters working for, or freelancing on behalf of, the Daily Telegraph, as well as Luke Edwards in any capacity he may have working for the paper's sister title or on a freelance basis.
I've said this before and I'll say it again. "There isn't any other club that can match the enormous litany of stupidity of Newcastle." None even comes close and that's a fact ........ we're so lucky to have them Just imagine if we had to suffer neighbours who won trophies, acted with dignity & triumphed in Europe.
