According to Nick Donaldson – the creative director at ‘The National’ – Amanda Staveley is no longer involved in any bid to buy Newcastle United.
This comes after suggestions that Staveley may be behind one of the groups looking to buy the club, with the Times claiming earlier this week that ‘at least two parties’ were in ‘advanced talks’, however he’s insisted that this is NOT the case.
As shown in his tweet below, Donaldson – who works for Abu Dhabi’s leading English-language news outlet – says she isn’t involved in any bid , either ‘with or without’ the Bin Zayed Group:
In all honesty, it would not surprise me if talk of a ‘second party’ competing with the Bin Zayed Group is fabricated and purely an attempt to hurry along their bid to buy the club.
Time will tell, but if there are indeed several groups pushing to buy the club, Mike Ashley can’t have any excuses if he fails to sell up this time around.
He may have dealt with time wasters in the past, however he can’t afford to have another takeover saga end in tears this summer – not when Rafa Benitez’s future and the hopes and fears of 52,000 fans are now riding on it.
So, another journo who knew nothing and had no sources telling him anything prior to the BZG statement, now claims to have enough inside knowledge to make this claim?
I personally think it more than coincidental that Staveley, in February, was talking of her continued interest in the club AND a desire to further invest in the city – exactly as BZG have said they want to do. The fact that she represented Sheikh Khaled in whatever interest he had in LFC proves there is an existing close working relationship between.
The fact she had been in discussion with Ashley and had seen enough to encourage her to make three bids also suggests she has more than enough information for BZG to have made use of.
She was always going to be a broker, yet no one is wondering exactly whose money she was representing, and then along comes BZG. Coincidence my backside.
sickandtired(Quote)
On the other hand Ashley has no time for Staveley, in his own words she’s a self publicist, and a waste of time, meaning he doesn’t like her and won’t negotiate with her. I’ll buy that because you cannot really negotiate with somebody you neither like, trust nor respect. There’s always going to be doubts about her background, and mode of operation in acquiring contacts, financial qualifications and probity, and doubts about specialist knowledge and commercial maturity needed in assessing the business side of football. She’s done well and been paid some improbably gargantuan fees which best no relation to her level of competence, but it doesn’t always work and wouldnt wash with Ashley. He knows full well that he’s the one paying her ridiculous fee by virtue of a lower selling price, not the Saudis…..and he won’t pay those who don’t work for him!
Emmerdale 56(Quote)