Newcastle United fans have taken to Twitter to express their frustration that the club’s proposed takeover stands on the point of reported collapse.
The Sunday Mirror claim that owner Mike Ashley has upped his asking price by £80million from £320million to £400million even though he has been unable to sell the club during extensive talks with financier Amanda Staveley.
The Sports Direct tycoon has reportedly left Staveley baffled with his latest move, which is regarded as a nightmare for supporters worried about the future of manager Rafael Benitez and the club’s transfer window plans.
Benitez has openly admitted he might not be at United next season as a result of a contract stand-off with Ashley.
The Spaniard has a year remaining on his contract, which is said to include a £6million release clause that is interesting clubs such as West Ham.
Benitez has consistently urged Ashley to back him in the transfer window, but the club’s budget is dwarfed by those of rivals and it was a regarded as a genuine achievement for the club to maintain their top-flight status in the recent domestic season.
Supporters are hugely frustrated with the antics of the club’s owner and many are now convinced he does not even want to sell.
Nothing But Newcastle has rounded up some of the best tweets:
Nobody’s gonna pay 100m over the going rate for a Premier League club unless they had a affinity with them, Highly doubt there’s anyone that fits that bill rich enough.
— Dean Woods (@wuds100) May 20, 2018
Because he doesn’t want to sell. He makes far too much money from #nufc
— Craig⚫️⚽️⚪️⚫️⚽️⚪️⚫️ (@hetherington31) May 20, 2018
Perplexing in that ‘I really don’t want to sell but enjoy playing games w/fans& NE media’ sort of way.
— James DeMarco (@jazadal) May 20, 2018
If Ashley really wanted to sell he would negotiate on that amount, unfortunately looks like we are stuck with him for the foreseeable future
