A lot of Newcastle United fans have replied to a post from NUFC 360, which has relayed news from The Chronicle regarding Henry Mauriss’ bid to buy the Toon from Mike Ashley.
The piece claims that the American has verbally offered £350m to take Newcastle from Ashley, and he has now been told that he must pay Ashley a 5% deposit if he is to be considered a serious bidder.
It is also claimed that Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium is paying closer to £340m for the Toon – and not the £300m that was initially reported.
The Chronicle believes that this is because the deposit paid by Staveley’s group was £17m.
However, despite this, these Toon fans remain unconvinced that Mauriss is a serious bidder.
Do you believe Mauriss is a serious bidder?
No, clearly a PR stunt
Yes, it is good to know we have an option in case the other deal fails
Henry Mauriss is a chancer and he can jog on
— Dell ? (@agbnufc) June 17, 2020
If that’s the case we’ll never hear from him again. All talk
— niall (@gxldsg) June 17, 2020
This sounds like nonsense. Ashley is in a legally binding agreement with Staveley’s group. Other bids are irrelevant until the PL make a decision.
— BurstOfTheStar (@BurstOfTheStar) June 17, 2020
I don’t even know where to start with that one…complete nonsense.
— Barry Blakely (@BarryBlakely) June 17, 2020
The news that Mauriss had bid for Newcastle emerged on Wednesday, following his initial interest that was reported in April.
However, journalist Alan Nixon was confused about why Mauriss would bid £50m over an agreed price, though this is not necessarily the case if The Chronicle is correct – as the agreed price is higher than initially thought.
Despite the doubts from some Toon fans, others have highlighted Ashley’s role in all of this.
Mike Ashley strikes again.
— Lucas Barboza (@lulucasbarboza) June 17, 2020
Is it refundable or is this Ashley’s latest money making scheme???
— samantha (@mumba88) June 17, 2020
He’s after two non-refundable deposits that’s all.
— James griffiths (@Jamesgr03407364) June 17, 2020
However, one Toon fan even believes Qatar have planted Mauriss as a way to stop the Saudi-backed takeover from happening – potentially due to BeIN Sports submitted a QC’s opinion to the Premier League, alerting them to Mauriss’ emergence as a second bidder in an attempt to get the league to block this current deal.
Pretty obvious hes a Qatar plant. If our takeover gets blocked he’ll magically disappear
— Steven Edgar (@StevenE01103369) June 17, 2020
Newcastle’s proposed takeover has faced many issues throughout the Premier League’s checks, but the main one has been piracy.
The WTO released their report on piracy earlier this week, in which it revealed that BeoutQ was based in Saudi Arabia and operated by people from within the country.
However, despite these concerns over piracy, the Premier League is still looking over the deal – so if Mauriss’ bid is serious, then he will have to wait until the PL makes a decision.