• Due diligence uncovers worrying facts about financial liabilities
• Uncertainty at club breeds unrest amongst players
There is a growing possibility that Newcastle United will not be sold this summer. A source close to the efforts to find a buyer for the Championship club has revealed that Mike Ashley may still be in control at St James' Park this autumn.
Although two consortiums remain interested in buying Newcastle for a figure close to the £100m asking price and others hover in the background, the due diligence process is understood to have exposed troubling facts about the club's financial liabilities. "The process is moving extremely slowly, there is still genuine hope of a sale but it's not looking imminent," said the source. "Newcastle comes with a lot of baggage."
Ashley's problem is that once the transfer window closes at the end of August interested parties are likely to postpone any purchase until shortly before it opens again in January or even next summer. Football clubs are rarely sold outside transfer windows and Newcastle's would-be buyers are believed to be concerned about the club's wage bill. That stands at around £65m per annum and is proving a stumbling block.
While paying £100m for Newcastle could prove a sound investment if the club bounces straight back to the Premier League, a second season in the Championship would be a huge drain on resources.
Though Newcastle could offload some high earners such as Obafemi Martins, Joey Barton and Fabricio Coloccini this close season, realistically any moves are likely to be completed only if the club continue paying a portion of their former players' wages. When Leeds United sold Robbie Fowler to Manchester City Elland Road kept on meeting a sizeable percentage of his salary and a source close to Newcastle admitted: "The fear is we could end up in a worse financial mess than Leeds did."
Ashley, who has retreated from the public eye in recent weeks, is consequently faced with the unpalatable prospect of continuing as owner or taking a huge financial loss by offering Newcastle at a rock bottom price for a quick sale.
While he attempts to find a buyer, Ashley has resolutely refused to appoint a manager, leaving Newcastle under the caretaker charge of Chris Hughton. Alan Shearer is waiting in the wings and hopes to return to the manager's office but he would almost certainly demand that Ashley invest in players suited to the rigours of a Championship campaign.
Newcastle, meanwhile, have been dealt a blow by the Football Association, which has ordered the club to scrap their pre-season friendly at Utrecht. With their north-east rivals Sunderland due to play in the Amsterdam tournament 30 miles away on Sunday 26 July police in the Netherlands and Britain had feared there would be clashes between travelling supporters. Since Sunderland had already sold tickets for the event the Wearsiders have been cleared to play by the FA.
There remains unrest among Newcastle's players, several of whom are threatening to submit transfer requests next week. "We want a manager and a bit of stability," said the centre-half Steven Taylor. "We need that, at the moment we don't know what's going on."
Such sentiments were echoed by Kevin Nolan. "We would prefer to know whether Mike Ashley is going to keep [Newcastle] or someone else is coming in," said the midfielder. "In the next week we certainly want to know what is going to happen. This situation is unfair on the players and the staff."
haha, due to the formula of, Asset = Capital + Liability??
Liability = Asset - Capital..
therefore, in a matter of time, will its selling price for 100m goes down?
newcastle could literally go bankrupt..
then all the players go drink air