Mike Ashley puts Newcastle United up for sale again

Jun 1 2009 by Adam Jupp, Evening Chronicle

MIDDLE East millions could be used to buy Newcastle United.

Owner Mike Ashley revealed his desire to sell the club over the weekend, admitting he’s prepared to offload it for a cut-price £100m.

And the Chronicle understands one of two groups interested is an Omani consortium while the other is based in the UK.

The Omani group is believed to have proved the extent of their wealth to those charged with selling United and plan to invest hundreds of millions of pounds into the crisis-hit Championship club.

Today, fans welcomed billionaire Ashley, who bought the club for £134m in 2007 and cleared a £110m overdraft, putting it back on the market.

The Sports Direct boss has apologised to fans for the terrible decisions he has made during his reign at St James’ Park which last week saw the club relegated from the Premier League.

However, while some fans are looking forward to a future without Ashley, who has presided over one of the club’s worst seasons in history, others fear nobody will be prepared to pay big money for a Championship club.

And there are also fears a sale could put Alan Shearer’s future as manager in jeopardy. The club’s record goal scorer has been in talks with Ashley over the past week in an effort to thrash out a contract to become the club's fifth permanent manager in three years

But Graham Harper, from the Newcastle United Supporters’ Club, said: “The end of the Ashley era means lessons learned and opportunities for the future. We believe one of Mr Ashley’s fundamental errors was to fail to listen to the fans and we believe that the fans are now a fundamental part of a positive solution to the current issue of direction of the club.

“The fans are an important constant and they will make this club attractive to potential buyers. Newcastle United Supporters Club hopes that any future owners will see the value of engaging with fans at the earliest opportunity to ensure that Newcastle United learns from the mistakes of the past and builds a brighter future.”