Speaking recently on The Price of Football podcast, football finance expert at Liverpool University Kieran Maguire shed some light as to why Newcastle United’s mooted takeover deal is taking so long.
With reports going back as far as April suggesting that Newcastle’s £300 million Saudi-Arabia backed takeover deal was close to competition, over three months later there has still been no answer given by the Premier League as to whether or not they will approve the bid, despite the fact that Premier League CEO Richard Masters told MPs in June that expected a decision to be made on the matter ‘shortly’.
However, Kieran Maguire recently suggested on The Price of Football podcast a reason that could lay the blame with current Newcastle owner Mike Ashley as to why the deal is taking so long.
He said: “Mike Ashley is definitely keen to divest himself of Newcastle United, there’s no doubt about that. The reason why it’s taking so long is that he’s been hawking the club around for at least a couple of years.
“I think some of the things that might put people off which could be put into Mike Ashley’s bin is that, when you’re buying Newcastle United Football Club, if you go into the small print of the accounts – which as you know, I’m no stranger to doing – you’re actually buying 22 different companies.
“So, he’s set up Newcastle United kit and Newcastle United pies and Newcastle United this, that and the other, which makes it trickier. If you’re just buying Newcastle United itself, then you know exactly what you’ve got and this is also an issue as far as those people who are looking at Wigan Athletic are concerned – what exactly are you buying from the administrator? So, you need to list it all out. So, by having it split between 22 different companies, it just makes it a bit of a pain in the backside.”
TIF Thoughts…
As such, it would appear that Maguire is claiming there could well be blame apportioned to Mike Ashley as to why the process of the takeover – which is supposed to take just three weeks – has, so far, taken over three months.
Do you think Mike Ashley is to blame for the length of the takeover?
Yes
No
