Some more intriguing quotes have emerged from Amanda Staveley’s interview with ITV this week, with her discussing Mike Ashley and the chances of him selling to another consortium.
She reveals that ‘Mike’ told her several times during takeover talks that he was ‘not wealthy enough’ to take the club forward, saying he ‘needed to find another party’ that could ‘take the reigns’ on Tyneside.
Staveley also states that the Saudi-backed bid – which is set to be decided in an upcoming legal battle against the Premier League – does NOT stop another buyer with ‘deep pockets’ coming in with an offer.
Not only that, she claims that ‘Mike would do a deal’ if rival consortium came in, yet feels adamant there just isn’t enough willing buyers out there right now in the current climate – suggesting we’d be in trouble if the PIF-funded takeover falls through for good this summer.
Here’s what Staveley had to say when speaking to ITV Tyne Tees:
“Mike has said on a number of occasions, ‘look, you know I’m a wealthy guy, but I’m just not wealthy enough to support this club’, so he’s done all he can in his stewardship and all he’s able to do.
“He said ‘I need to find another party that can take these reigns’, but I do appreciate that a lot of fans will be frustrated.
“You have to understand, our transaction does not stop anyone else coming in and buying the football club.
“If some other great buyer could come in with deep pockets who would transform the region, who would be able to put real money into Newcastle and the surrounding area, into infrastructure into business development, then, you know, Mike would do that deal.
“I do genuinely believe that he would do that deal.
“The problem is there just is there just aren’t a huge amount of buyers that are available, but for any clubs actually.”
Some may feel these aren’t the words of a woman who is expecting to be taking over on Tyneside any time soon, however she spent other parts of the interview insisting that she, the Reuben brothers and the PIF were ‘the only investors’ for NUFC, refusing to give up on their bid to buy the club.
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Except of course the last accounts showed his ‘loans’ were back to the original £100 million he put in after buying the club. Most of that was made up by paying off the mortgage and outstanding overdraft – except we still owe the whole amount to him now rather than them being paid off.
So, in reality, his investment over and above the purchase price has been absolutely minimal for a PL club.
sickandtired(Quote)
What times does Tynemouth COOP close? Anyone know?
Ian Cusack(Quote)
Serious click bait there Olly!
Freddd(Quote)