Newcastle United: Ciaran Kelly discusses takeover timeline

Ciaran Kelly has been speaking on the latest edition of the Everything is Black and White Podcast, discussing the failed takeover of Newcastle United.

One of the topics that he talked about relating to the failed takeover was that negotiations over buying the club could still be around in six months as the process rumbles on, despite the Saudi-backed consortium withdrawing its bid last week.

Here is what he had to say on that:

“It’s a balance really, I think we want to just have that bit of clarity and know where Newcastle are going, but part of me feels that this will be in the background for another six months and it’s just whether it will be done in that quiet fashion, without us really knowing or whether this is going to continue to play out a bit in public.”

So, it seems that Kelly believes that this whole saga could continue to drag on but isn’t sure if it will be played out in public or done in private.

TIF Thoughts…

When news broke in April that Newcastle could be bought by Staveley’s consortium and they had agreed a deal with Mike Ashley, it seemed as if the Toon were finally getting new owners.

All that remained was the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test, which was expected to take three to four weeks.

However, by 30th July, the PL had still not decided on the deal, and the group withdrew its bid.

It seems that Kelly believes that even though the group has withdrawn its offer, talks might continue, and it is just a case of whether it all be played out in public again.

This could have caused problems for the consortium’s efforts in this latest bid because it allowed BeIN Sports to make its own feelings known on the matter and also allowed other opponents to emerge as they expressed their dissatisfaction with the potential takeover.

So, could that have impacted the bid? It appears possible, but the truth is we don’t know, while we find it interesting that Kelly thinks that this could continue for another six months.