Businesswoman Amanda Staveley still holds interest in buying Newcastle United but will not meet Mike Ashley’s £400million asking price, according to journalist George Caulkin.
The Times’ north-east correspondent delivered an update on Staveley in an exchange with a United supporters after takeover talk had gone quiet in recent months.
Probed over the tycoon’s interest in buying out Ashley, Caulkin explained she hasn’t “gone anywhere” but the “last I heard from her she won’t be bidding at £400m”.
Don’t think she’s gone anywhere. But, last I heard from her, she won’t be bidding at £400m.
— George Caulkin (@CaulkinTheTimes) July 20, 2018
OPINION
Stalemate. That is where Newcastle’s takeover appears to be at, and there is no immediate prospect of the situation changing. Sports Direct supremo Ashley has now been at the club for over a decade and his businesses have benefitted from the publicity that comes with being associated with such a high profile Premier League club. The Magpies owner has distanced himself from Newcastle in recent years but there remains doubt as to how much he actually wants to sell, with the asking price continuing to rise even though the club are treading water and demonstrating neither ambition or the strategy to march into the higher echelons of the Premier League. As for Staveley, does she even have the funds to buy Newcastle anyway. She has claimed to be backed by Middle East funds of £28billion, but her own companies’ assets are mysterious and difficult to pin down.