Newcastle United

Newcastle United: Keith Gillespie shares his thoughts on the potential takeover

|
Image for Newcastle United: Keith Gillespie shares his thoughts on the potential takeover

Former Newcastle United winger Keith Gillespie has shared his thoughts on the Magpies’ potential takeover, saying he feels ‘sorry’ for the supporters.

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley agreed to sell the club to a consortium fronted by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund last summer in a £300m deal.

However, the prospective buyers failed the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test, and Ashley has been locked in a court case trying to get the takeover approved ever since.

In a recent report, the Daily Mail claimed that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia personally lobbied Boris Johnson to intervene in the protracted talks, but still no final decision has been made.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Gillespie asserted that the fans deserve to be treated better than being left in limbo as they have been for almost a year now.

He said: “In terms of will there be a takeover? It’s not something I listen to too much now, because I’ve heard it too often.

“You get asked to comment on this quite a bit when there’s talk again. Until something is confirmed, Newcastle fans don’t deserve to be put through the mill every single time, because they’re so passionate about their club and they want this takeover to happen.

“They start to get a little bit of belief that they could be getting closer, and then bang, it falls apart again. I feel sorry for them in that way.

“For me, until there is something concrete and we are very, very close, it’s not something that Newcastle fans deserve people to be talking about, because we’ve seen in the past how often it’s just fallen apart.”

TIF Thoughts on Newcastle’s takeover…

The takeover talks have been going on for many months now, and it’s hard to determine whether much progress has been made due to conflicting reports, with many suggesting the group are focusing on Italian giants Inter and others claiming the completion to be close.

Failed plans to implement a European Super League have exposed the greed of Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ clubs and given hope to some fans and journalists that this deal can finally be pushed over the line.

Only time will tell whether Newcastle are set to join the wealthy elite of the English top tier, but the supporters have certainly waited long enough to find out.

In other news: ‘Yes please’, ‘How on earth would we pull that off’ – Many NUFC fans excited as rumour emerges

Share this article