After Mike Ashley pulled the plug on talks for their proposed takeover of NUFC, sources close to Amanda Staveley and PCP have since admitted that they learnt the deal was off via the media – claiming their official offer was submitted in NOVEMBER and they have not been contacted by NUFC regarding a deal being off!
The Chronicle claim that Staveley is ‘devastated’ at the collapse of PCP’s takeover bid and shocked to have learnt the news via media – opposed to St James’ Holdings (the official group tasked to sell the club).
Disgraceful. This is absolutely typical of NUFC under Mike Ashley and an utter lack of professionalism from the club.
Here’s what sources close to Staveley and PCP Capital Partner’s people have told the Chronicle:
Sources close to PCP Capital Partners and Amanda Staveley learned the deal was off via the media. No contact from #nufc – and they insist a bid DID go in back in November.
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) January 16, 2018
Fancy that. Months of talks and due diligence from serious bidders (Staveley and PCP) and it all ends like this. Some are saying it’s brinkmanship from Ashley, but this kind of behaviour burns bridges if you ask me.
It is being reported by Sky that their initial bid was £250m with a series of caveats and clauses (which was rejected by Ashley), however it is clear that major developments have not arrived since then. Sky’s Pete Graves states here that the two parties remain ‘miles apart’, hence Ashley’s decision to pull the plug:
Initial bid of 250m was loaded with caveats and clauses and was deemed unacceptable by MA. Since then developments have not been forthcoming. Club remains for sale but the 2 sides remain miles apart. Really disappointing development for fans. Latest on @SkySportsNewsHQ #nufc 2/2
— Pete Graves (@PeteGravesSky) January 16, 2018
We fans have to do something they is no future under Mike Ashley would love for someone to go and work out how much money he has taken off the club over the last 10 years .Plus lost revenue with sponsorship of his sports direct all over st James’s Park .Where has all the money gone ??. Imagine 52 000 with 20 minutes gone have a walk out with difference this time we walk straight over the pitch and down the main tunnel and out the main doors .Never to go back until he has gone .
Martin(Quote)
Fans today haven’t got the bottle to do it, we should of hit him in the pocket year’s ago, boycott the ground and his shops, I stopped buying his fake sports direct **** years ago,he’s having a laugh at our expense yet again and we are letting him get away with it year after year,he’s treating us like mugs
Geordie rob(Quote)
Pointless walkin out after the game started. Hes already got our money he wont be arsed
Toonfan(Quote)
Try not going in the first place, then your not losing money, the more you line his pockets the more he will treat us like mugs
Geordie rob(Quote)
Toonfan your missing the point i have season tickets he had my money a long time ago .But if everybody walked out over the pitch it would stop the match it would be seen world wide .What could they do stop it absolutely nothing be to many to arrest
Martin(Quote)
Martin good idea,but why not go one better and invade the pitch and not move until he publicly comes and speaks to the fans, only one problem he hasn’t got the bottle
Geordie rob(Quote)
He hasn’t been to a game all season we get penfold ha
Martin(Quote)
Once season tickets were paid for there is no point walking out
Spaintoon(Quote)
I’m 64 years of age and have supported NUFC for as long as I can remember. This latest news is devastating. Relegation to follow, Rafa to leave as soon as the season ends, no chance of a takeover as a Championship club. The fans are totally helpless. We are stuck with Ashley for the foreseeable future. There will be no investment and no future for this club. I can’t think of a positive thing to think of. This man is despicable and has absolutely no consideration for the fans of this very special club. Mike Ashley RIP.
Colin Campbell(Quote)
Get some perspective. The club is in the same position as it was in yesterday, last month, last year… Nothing has changed for the club. Rafa signed for that club, not a club ran by Staveley. He stayed on for that club, not a club ran by Staveley. And he remained in the summer at that club, not a club ran by Staveley. Having committed himself three times already, there is no reason for him to leave because Staveley proved to be a time waster.
If you sell your car privately, there’s a good reason you normally put on the ad “no time wasters”. You advertise for £1000, you don’t want people ringing you up, saying they are interested, arranging a viewing and and offering £750. And you especially don’t want some idiot who wants to offer £750 with BS clauses that you have to pay to have the brake disks replaced in 3 months, and if the car breaks down any time within a year you have to pay for the repairs. NO! NO! NO! The car’s up for (what you think) is a fair price, and the basic rule is caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) that the purchaser takes the risk of the car going wrong in the future.
Staveley is a time waster. Having submitted what was clearly a low offer, she’s done nothing to renegotiate that offer in two months? When it was clearly communicated at the time that the offer (and silly clauses) were unacceptable. She thought perhaps that as the club’s record in the Prem got worse, that Ashley would reduce the price. And she has played brinkmanship over the transfer window.
It’s clear that this uncertainty was why Rafa didn’t know what his budget was. The club didn’t know whether she would come back to the table or not. Rafa would be right to say to the club that she’s a time waster, they can’t wait any longer for her to dip her delicate fingers in her Versace purse, and see whether she actually has the dosh required.
This isn’t a situation of playing hardball to get the best deal for her clients. If they really are that concerned about the difference in their offer and Ashley’s price then they were never going to be in a position to bankroll the club, the way many fans hoped. You can’t imagine the owners of Chelsea or Man City haggling for months over £50m. Either her investors were only ever lukewarm about whether the club would be a sound money making venture for them, or they are not in that elite group of super rich.
Let’s not forget – she has form. She led a bid to takeover Liverpool a few years ago. That also spectacularly failed.
The club (Rafa) needs to make some serious decisions IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. They can’t put the transfer window on hold while Staveley fxxks around. Either come up with a serious offer, or do one is the right message. Otherwise, this is going to drag on and on, and drag the club back down to the Championship.
And the idiots with their walkouts and protests will be complicit. The players and the manager needs support now more than ever. There’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and that’s bitterly disappointing, but not unexpected. The team need to fight it out to May to get the results needed to stay up. They have found it tough enough to win games at home recently. It will be impossible to get results if everytime they step out on to the pitch the atmosphere is toxic.
potski(Quote)
There must be some way of getting rid of the Fat Shopkeeper, does anyone have contacts with the Mob or know a Russian hacker to take down Sports Direct website?
Big Al(Quote)
I don’t much like Mike Ashley, but I don’t blame him for rejecting an offer based on future performance of which he would have no input or power over….I have said many times that PCP are using up their good will with the City fast and need to get on with it to maintain any momentum that looks now to be dead, every one thought, and she lead us to believe she had gone back with a better offer and removing clauses which now looks untrue.
I’ll buy your rattly 10 year old car for £1000, and if it has any problems over the next year you give me £500 back………..FFS
BillytheFish(Quote)
Can we please just support the club and stop trying to run it. I paid just under £1k got my season ticket in March 2017? Not going to the match will only impact on me not Mr Ashley who already has my money. This is the same for the majority of loyal fans who go to support the team. Mr Ashley will understand, I hope, that the only way he can loose in this is if we go down again and loose the premiership money. Walkouts, boycotts will help this but only by helping to send us down.
The only way to get back at him is to stop eating and drinking his goods at the ground and stop buying Newcastle gear anywhere and anything from his Sports Direct shops.
Malcolm N(Quote)
you dont buy a broke down car for a mint condition price…. so why would staveley buy a club for 350 mil… with a championship team that is struggling in the premiership with an owner who couldn’t give a **** whether or not the team is relegated or not. ashley the unprofessional ….. CLOWN!!
Kenny(Quote)
Maybe this deal will be done at the end of the season,but sadly nufc will be down again,I hate Ashley but to put clauses in the deal was always going to be dead in the water. :???
Mandy pyle(Quote)
Whilst the news that the takeover is not happening, worse is on the horizon. Ashley has said he has his eyes on April and of curse he will know then that he will be getting about £175m from the Premier deal. That money will be lost to Newcastle United and football in general as he pockets it for his other ventures, and anybody who buys the TOON after that will not only have to buy for say £250M for a Championship club, but will have no money to reinforce the club and replace the departing players who will want out and get signed by Premiership clubs. Rafa will leave despite his transfer fee, and the TOON will once again settle for mediocre football playing then likes of Burton Albion, Grimsby,etc, and life will be back to the old days. Given the likelyhood of that, WHY would anybody agree in February to buy a season ticket for 2018/9. If enough do it he will be frustrated and sell and your season ticket will still be available to repurchase in say August. This man is a stain in football and especially Newcastle United and the sooner he is forced out the sooner we can move on with someone who has more ambition and affinity with our wonderful sport. Just ask yourself – How can the likes of Bournemouth with an average crowd of 24,000 fans and with a lesser manager than Rafa, be above us and play better football the the TOON, They have no big transfers and have to get by with players playing to a system. How then can Newcastle not afford big signings, where does our money go ? The change is in our hands to give Ashley a warning once and for all. DON”T RENEW YOUR SEASON TICKET FOR 2018/9. It will still; be there in August if Ashley gets out and a new owner comes in.
BTW potski. In your post above you rightly say that Staveley was in that failed bid for Liverpool, but you omit to say she was involved in the sale of Man City to it’s new owner, not exactly a timewasters then was she.
Dave Rowland(Quote)
The fans are their own enemy. They say a lot of everything, but do absolutely nowt, the best thing is boycott all the games simple as that
Darren Handyside(Quote)