Yanks close in on Toon.

Posted on August 30th, 2009 | 21 Comments |

Star-spangled Toon.
Star-spangled Toon.
According to The Mirror, Alan Shearer is the fairest of them all.

Or at least that will be the case if the Sheard-fronted American bid is successful.

The Mirror claims the consortium is close to signing a deal, although forgive me for not getting all excited but we’ve heard this sort of stuff before and it has so far come to nothing.

Apparently these Yanks have a background in the American sports industry and have the funds to pay Ashley’s £100m asking price, build and market the club and sign players.

A source close to the bid (yawn) said:

“This bid is both serious and credible. The difference between this and other bids is that the funding is there to buy the club if agreement can be reached on other financial areas such as the club’s £39million overdraft.

“Ideally, the consortium would have liked the business completed before the transfer deadline closed but they are serious about buying the club and won’t rush.

“Talks are under way and Mike Ashley’s original asking price shouldn’t be an issue. But it will take time and because of all the other disappointments the Americans have to play their cards close to their chests.”

This £39m overdraft facility seems to be quite a sticking point for bidders as that’s what Moat was apparently struggling with (according to some press reports anyway). It would be nice if a bidder came in who could simply clear the outstanding debt – reputed to be about £20m – and be done with it, then Barclays could be flipped the bird and taken out of the equation.

The report goes on to say that Moat is still Seymour Pierce’s preferred bidder, although the Americans could pip him at the post through sheer financial muscle.

Apparently the Americans have been impressed by Hughton and would offer him a senior coaching role (which I thought he had anyway) but they would appoint Shearer as manager.

I must confess I’m fairly numb to all this stuff at the moment and take it all with a large pinch of salt. I’m still inclined to bet that Ashley hangs onto the club.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

21 Responses

  3. belive me its because no body want to spend money on a club that is on deficit already mick have cillected over $30 mill oba, basso,duff, plus beye and no body is worth is left in the team harper 0.5 mill collecini 4.5 mill taylor 5 enrique (no body wants to buy) nolan 2 mill, jonas 3 mill, butt(to old), danny(if nufc sold him they know they are f***ed) sola 4 mill and caroll 1-2 mill and the becnch totaly togethr they are 6 mill do u see what i mean

  4. a new morning, another day of hope, the life of an alcoholic and a toon fan.. either way the hope will fade by tea-time and we’ll be in the gutter once again..

  5. I’d love to believe it but….

    This could be different to the rest of course.

    The Chron have reported and now too the Mirror, I know their not the great bastians of British journalism but we can hope.

    I heard Bobby moncur also say that from what he’s heard the US interest is serious and have been talking to the club for a few weeks.

    But I still refuse to believe it.

  6. YAWN!!

    More “Source close to” stuff – still it sells sunday papers to those daft enough to buy them…..

    BTW – I would have thought Sir Alan would want a say in who his coaches would be – but lets not be picky …..

  7. “This bid is both serious and credible. The difference between this and other bids is that the funding is there to buy the club if agreement can be reached on other financial areas such as the club’s £39M overdraft.”

    How this is any different to the Moat bid? We’re led to believe his stalling point is also over “other financial issues”. Doesn’t make sense.

  12. Yeah, we live in hope and die in dispair.
    Too many false dawns lately.
    I remember when expectations were high, people like Modric, Johnson from Man. C. etc.now look at us!
    Not saying Killgallon and Vaughan are crap but somehow i find it difficult to get exited by their signing for the club, plus I doubt we will aquire anything but free signings or loanees.
    A takeover by a reputable US group sounds a bit too good to be true, still! a faint ray of hope remains.

  13. Ashley to stay Moat to chair, most likely scenario all rest rubbish. Shearer to manage? We’ll see.

  14. I would imagine that Moat would want certain guarantees of a ‘free hand’ (although within a budget of course) from Ashley before he became chairman but I wouldn’t be too sure Ashley would give them.

    The thing is, for Moat to be attracted to the job of chairman, I think Ashley would have to be prepared to commit money to employ Shearer and rebuild the team, and I just can’t see him doing that.

    Unless of course Moat puts some of his own money into the club to buy that freedom.

    The more I think about this option, the less likely I think it is.

  15. Hugh de Payen says:
    August 30, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    “I think Ashley would have to be prepared to commit money to employ Shearer and rebuild the team”

    Why would he need money to employ Shearer? He’s completely inexperienced so he should be cheap as chips. If he’s asking for millions, I would just tell him to do one and get someone with better credentials.

  16. workyticket says:
    August 30, 2009 at 7:44 pm (Edit)

    “Why would he need money to employ Shearer? He’s completely inexperienced so he should be cheap as chips.”

    I expect he won’t be cheap as chips though, which is why he’ll need money to employ him.

    Chips aren’t that cheap actually. I paid £1.40 the last time I bought some.

    “If he’s asking for millions, I would just tell him to do one and get someone with better credentials.”

    That’s certainly one option.

  17. Put your Big Al t-shirt on man worky. You know you love him! Blaming Hughton is a bit harsh mind Bats. He was fighting a losing battle. Undoubtedly results have improved this year due to poorer opposition and a reality check for the players but games have been there to be won or lost and he’s got us on the right path. Fair play to him.

  18. Bowburn, I love the club more than Alan Shearer because I haven’t lost the plot. That doesn’t mean I think he was a bad player, but I won’t judge him differently to other people just because of that. That would just be silly.

  20. Worky you know I was being facetious but in fairness who are we judging Shearer against? I think there’s really only Hughton if we consider Ashley is staying. I just think that Hughton is generally a bit of yes man in as much as he’ll just get on with the job. While that’s working so far, our depleted squad will start to struggle. Tonight could be the beginning with no experienced forward line. I just think whoever comes in is justified in asking for some funds beause it shows ambition. We don’t need to go back to the bad old days of over-spending to the point of crippling us but we do need to speculate. If Ashley can’t do that then Hughton is perhaps the only option. Let’s hope he can get some loans in and cope with the demands of a long season.

  21. bowburnmag says:
    August 31, 2009 at 8:51 am (Edit)

    Worky you know I was being facetious but in fairness who are we judging Shearer against?

    ====

    That’s the key point about the Shearer debate in my opinion.

    It isn’t Shearer v All-Potential-Managers. It’s Shearer v Realistic-Options or, perhaps more specifically, Shearer v Those-Mentioned-In-Connection-With-The-Job, which is basically Curbs, O’Leary, Hughton and Kinnear.

    If other managers become realistic options then they can be considered too.