Toon for Sale
 

The sportswear tycoon Mike Ashley is to put Newcastle United football club up for sale with a £100m price tag.

Ashley will appoint Keith Harris, chairman of Seymour Pierce, or bankers at NM Rothschild this week with a mandate to achieve a quick sale. His decision comes just days after the club was relegated from the Premier League.

The asking price is £34m less than Ashley paid for the club two years ago. Since then he has ploughed £110m of his own money into the northeast team to pay down its debts.

Ashley told The Sunday Times: “It has been catastrophic for everybody. I’ve lost my money and I’ve made terrible decisions. Now I want to sell it as soon as I can . . . advisers will be appointed shortly.”

If Ashley manages to find a buyer it will put an end to his controversial and occasionally acrimonious two-year spell in control at St James’ Park, having initially put the club up for sale for £400m last September because of a series of protests and demonstrations following Kevin Keegan’s departure as manager.

But dropping out of the top flight of English football has slashed the value of the club. There has been some interest from Nigeria and South Africa but no firm takeover offers. The club’s demotion will make it harder to drum up bid interest.

Asked if he regretted his decision to buy the club two years ago, Ashley, who owns the sportswear chain Sports Direct, said: “Of course I regret it. I never said I was an expert in football clubs. I was just a fan – although a very wealthy fan. But I’m not so wealthy now. I put my money into it and I tried my best. But I accept my best was woefully short. I am genuinely sorry for everybody about what has happened.”

Ashley landed a £929m pay-day when he floated Sports Direct on the London stock exchange in 2007, but the credit crunch and a string of ill-fated gambles have slashed his wealth from £1.4 billion to £700m, according to this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.

The news comes as talks to give Alan Shearer, the care-taker manager, a full-time contract to rebuild Newcastle United were continuing this weekend.

Ashley also praised former interim manager Joe Kinnear, who took temporary charge of the club after Keegan quit last autumn. “I personally thought Joe put the club back on the right track. He took it from second bottom to 13th but things went against him,” said Ashley. Kinnear was forced to stand down because of ill health.

After its relegation from the Premier League, the club faces a big restructuring that is likely to lead to a clear-out of the first-team playing squad to balance the books. At present, Newcastle relies on a £40m working-capital facility from Barclays bank.

Re: Toon for Sale
 

But I thought the club has been up for sale for ages, unofficially. Fat Ashley would simply have got more if they had stayed up.

Re: Toon for Sale
 

I have had a few good days out watching the toon and am saddened at recent events Spugsy, I am sure they will not do a Leeds and if someone wants to waste money on Pompie then I am sure a new buyer will be found for the Toon. On a plus note a full house awaits at the keepmoat I hope to get home for that or the visit to st. James.
Keep the faith. :fingerscrossed:

Re: Toon for Sale
 

he put it up for sale for £400m and got no takers so he took it off the market, the big stupid fat twat is looking to lose about £140m even if he gets £100m for it.

Re: Toon for Sale
 

cheers fella, but we will lose a lot of money on players we'll need to ship out and then get new faces in - it could be a tough season, but we really want to get back up at the first attempt.

Re: Toon for Sale
 

well done Agent Ashley your mission is almost complete :thumbup:

have you had the banner on the Tyne Bridge emailed to you yet Spugs ?

Re: Toon for Sale
 

Championship Odds 2009/10

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newcastle United 4/1
West Brom 11/2
Middlesbrough 7/1
Ipswich Town 10/1
Reading 14/1
Sheff Utd 14/1 *
Burnley 14/1 *
Queens Park Rangers 16/1
Cardiff City 16/1
Preston North End 16/1
Leicester City 20/1
Sheffield Wednesday 20/1
Swansea City 25/1
Derby County 25/1
Crystal Palace 25/1
Coventry City 33/1
Peterborough United 33/1
Watford 33/1
Nottingham Forest 33/1
Bristol City 33/1
Doncaster Rovers 50/1
Blackpool 66/1
Plymouth Argyle 80/1
Barnsley 80/1
Scunthorpe United 100/1

Its not gonna be easy thats for sure,West Brom know the league well and obviously the smogs will be strong,Shef utd, Reading and also rumours Shef wed will be challenging, Qpr have the money but no stability,Derby will be more stable this year and Cardif and Preston will both be strong.
We are quoted at 50/1 so you will be able to give me 2 goals start home and away fella!!! :thumbsup:

Re: Toon for Sale
 

there are a lot of pretty good teams in there!!

Re: Toon for Sale
 

This may raise a smile on the face of any Toon fan. Its rather long-winded but seems to reflect their innate optimism. Was taken from Hubby's favourite website...

http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/forum...130c0524743275

Re: Toon for Sale
 

Re: Toon for Sale
 

Its nice to see Ashley giving Keith Harris a job, I always wondered what he was doing after Orville learnt to fly and buggered off.

Re: Toon for Sale
 

I'll buy it for a dirham...A symbolic dirham...

Re: Toon for Sale
 

I expect he is regretting the decision to keep the sheikhs waiting last year during Iftar whilst him and that revolting ferret Dennis Wise got lashed in Bahri Bar.

Re: Toon for Sale
 

pair of twats that they are.

Re: Toon for Sale
 

A mate from Newcastle was telling me Freddie Shepherd is waiting for them to hit rock bottom then will step in as the new Messiah (they must be getting towards double figures now).