According to The Sun’s Alan Nixon, Mike Ashley will not pull the trigger on Steve Bruce as his main priority remains selling the football club to the Saudis – not paying £3m plus to sack his man.
A baffling stance from the absent NUFC owner, as his chances of sealing a much needed takeover will only become slimmer if the club can’t get themselves out of the relegation zone.
An arbitration hearing between Newcastle United and the Premier League is set to take place on January 3 as the club looks to prove there is significant separation between the Saudi State and the Public Investment Fund.
Steve Bruce has come under heavy fire in recent weeks due to our poor start to the campaign; Wolves on Saturday was no exception as we slumped to another dismal defeat in the league.
Toon fans have criticised the top flight for their lack of decisiveness on the takeover, accusing them of holding our club in limbo for as long as this ongoing saga plays out.
Here’s a snippet from Nixon’s latest piece for The Sun:
Top sources close to both Bruce and Ashley reveal the owner will not pull the trigger as his priority remains finding a buyer.
Ashley knows it would cost £3million to axe Bruce – plus more to get rid of his backroom staff.
A replacement also takes that bill higher than he wants to pay – so the incumbent will stay to try and keep the Magpies up.
Not only have we been denied a buyout that could’ve transformed our club, it’s left us stuck with an owner who clearly has zero care for our current predicament.
Every other club would have sacked Bruce a long time ago. No win in our opening seven games has us sitting second bottom and scratching our heads as to where our next victory will come from.
The never-ending takeover saga has affected the club in the transfer market and now it is having an impact on who stands in the dugout, too.
Ashley’s problem is that he might not have his football club sold at all if it finds itself on the cusp of relegation by the time arbitration comes around.
Neglecting us will come back to bite him on the backside if we find ourselves adrift come the New Year.
Could you imagine a situation where NUFC wins the arbitration case, but PIF no longer wants to buy us as we are nailed on to be playing in the Championship next season?
Come on Ashley 3m cheaper than going into championship change clueless Bruce now and give us fans something to cheer about in our empty and soulless club, between you Bruce and pl masterbates your destroying this once fine club!
davep(Quote)
Nothing new there Charlie!
We all know Ashley and Bruce are both stubborn A**E HOLES who don’t know how to run a club and a team respectively!
Joseph(Quote)
More misguided speculation on the Saudi front.
As has been said before, by many, and will be said again, and again, the Saudi deal is dead in the water, and Ashley’s legal cases are simply him looking for compensation from the EPL.
It’s simply not possible to prove separation between PIF and Saudi state as PIF, more commonly known as the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund is, as it’s name suggests, the wealth fund of the Saudi Sovereign.
Even the Saudi’s knew it was a waste of time trying to prove separation – that’s why they walked away.
Not sure why Ashley would want Bruce gone. He will just look at last season when Bruce had a horrific run, but convinced the owner all would be well when we got our players fit again.
Players got fit, things got better, what’s the problem?
Even Nixon knows the Saudis have gone – that’s why he says “his priority remains FINDING a buyer.”
Odd thing to say if Ashley believes the Saudis WILL buy.
BykerBill(Quote)