Yet another Newcastle takeover has collapsed, but this one feels different. Usually when a takeover doesn’t work out the Magpies fans moan about it on forums, grunt and move on.
Knowing that they are stuck with current owner Mike Ashley yet again (as is widely known Newcastle fans have very little love for Ashley throughout the years). But after the latest takeover bid ended and the Saudi consortium pulled out fans have gone that one step further. They organised a petition and have now got an impressive 75,000 signatures wanting to know the ins and outs as to why their club wasn’t sold this summer.
The Newcastle trust of fans have sent pleas to the FA about why such a deal that looked like it was going through for the past 17 weeks has collapsed. They have even sent a letter to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
It’s refreshing to see fans want some clarification. One wonders what has happened behind the scenes. The Saudi takeover was always going to be open to investigation by the FA. This is a normal process to see if the new owners are proper and fit and not investing money illegally. No one but the FA at this stage know why the deal has collapsed, so the petition is a step in the right direction. What is also interesting is that Newcastle’s former player and a much respected one from the 1990s Rob Lee has also got involved adding his weight to proceedings.
Current owner Mike Ashley has faced years of verbal abuse over his running of the club, from the managers that he has brought in, not spending enough money for the size of the club and even at one point changing the name of the infamous ground from St.James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena. Sports Direct is his company outside of football.The name change at least didn’t last.
It has been reported that Ashley who has usually been very stubborn about selling the club really wants out this time. He has even been in touch with the consortium since the collapse and is hopeful that a deal could be revived. This would make sense given that the club are up for sale for around £300m.
One person who may have been quietly happy about a non sale is current manager Steve Bruce. Bruce has done well in his debut season in the dug out, and the fear for him would be new owners, new manager, especially as the owners were going to bring a lot of money to the table.
This story clearly isn’t over. But with just over a month until the new Premier League season starts fans and Ashley will want a conclusion.
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