Newcastle United – News Roundup – 29 July 2009.
Posted on July 29th, 2009 | 36 Comments |
“We have pulled out. How long can you keep hanging on?
“We have put a bid in and we have had no communication, no response – nothing.
“It really is poor form from Newcastle, but if that’s the way they want to run their business, good luck to them.”
There were some suggestions that The Profitable Group had not demonstrated their ability to pay the £100m that Ashley wanted, but McMahon refuted this:
“That is completely inaccurate.
“I just feel sorry for the supporters – they deserve much, much better. They deserve to know what is going on.
“We wanted to come in and turn the club round because it clearly needs something at the minute.”
Personally I think most of that is a load of hogwash. I even wonder if The Profitable Group ever had any serious intention of buying the club. I find it very odd that The Profitable Group went public on this in the first place as the transaction is supposedly covered by strict non-disclosure agreements. I have no doubt The Profitable Group made some noises in the direction of the club, possibly offering some ridiculously low price to ‘validate’ their insistence that they made a genuine bid, but I wonder if they ever really had any intention of following through. I will admit that I have no facts at my disposal to prove things one way or the other but this whole Profitable Group thing just doesn’t feel right.
I note that The Telegraph spins The Profitable Group’s withdrawal as a ‘setback’ but I’m inclined to think we’re better off without them, assuming they were ever a serious proposition in the first place. I suppose some people might throw a ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ accusation at me but the way I see it there’s no point replacing an unsatisfactory owner with another unsatisfactory owner.
The BBC’s report on this issue also suggests that ‘several parties remain interested in the club, but no timetable has been set’. I think a timetable should be set now. If Ashley can’t sell the club before the transfer window closes he may be stuck with it at least until the January transfer window opens. He needs to give himself enough time to deal in the transfer market so that he can reduce the wage bill and replace the necessary players.
There has been speculation – from The Mail in particular – that Ashley might put the club into Administration, but The Shields Gazette claims that there’s no danger of that according to ‘club sources’.
The Club Site tells us that Shola Ameobi, Steve Harper and Ryan Taylor will beck for tonight’s game against Leeds United. Chris Hughton said:
“All three will be involved.
“We’ve had a good response to Saturday’s defeat during the past couple of days.
“And we’ll be looking for the lads to take that into the game.”
The Daily Mail claims that Arsenal are in talks with Newcastle about getting Tim Krul but I’m wearing a doubtful face about this one mainly because I can’t see who they’re actually in talks with at the club. I suppose they could be talking to someone like Llambias but this would contradict the transfer embargo that’s supposedly in place. Anyway, we’ll see.
Finally, The Guardian has two articles that cogitate on the general state of affairs at Newcastle United. Louise Taylor’s article takes the point of view that Ashley is still optimistic about selling the club rather than putting it into administration. Rob Bagchi’s article provides a general summary of the things that have gone wrong in the last few months, although I like the bit that defuses comments made by Matthew Syed, The Times newspaper’s prize chump.
At least one part of what the Profitable Group have to say will ring true with United supporters:
“We have had no communication, no response – nothing”
Sound familiar??
On the Tim Krul thingy – I hope it’s not true. I suppose the one thing we have in our favour is that the Tottenham fanatic who currently owns our club (spit!) less likely to sell to Arsenal?
We live in hope…….