The Daily Mail’s North East football correspondent Craig Hope has delivered a worrying update on a potential Newcastle United takeover.
The Bin Zayed group, led by Dubai-based billionaire Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan, released a statement on Monday, as per Sky Sports, claiming he had agreed terms for the purchase of the club with owner Mike Ashley. Hope, though, remains skeptical.
“In my experience of covering takeovers, and being a north east reporter I have plenty of that, this isn’t how takeovers happen – it’s really not,” he told talkSPORT [28/05; 11:24]. “I am dubious, of course I am. The evidence which is coming back is supporting that skepticism and that’s what makes me even more cautious.
“Perhaps there’s another group, in the background, in the shadows, who are further down the line than we even know about – I don’t think it’ll be Amanda Staveley, I think it will be another group. It wouldn’t surprise me if in the next fortnight we are completely blindsided and Newcastle United is sold, it’s not to Sheikh Khaled, it’s to someone who is in talks, who has gone through the proper process.
“Something about this deal doesn’t ring true and I hope I’m wrong, I really hope I’m wrong.”
OPINION
This is an extremely worrying update, you’d have to say. Hope is obviously firmly entrenched in the north east scene and is very well connected in that part of the world, so it’s worth listening to what he says. There are a couple of interesting tid-bits, here. Firstly, he is skeptical about Sheikh Khaled’s proposed takeover, and rightly so. The evidence seems to be supporting that skepticism, as he says, and the more time that passes since the original news about the takeover first broke the more it seems like something that may not happen. What is fascinating, though, is Hope’s assertion that there could well be another team in the background ready to swoop in and secure a takeover in double-quick time. He feels that that party could end up not being Sheikh Khaled’s. That would be a huge shock, but a welcome one for the Magpies faithful.