Jim White opted to ask Dennis Wise directly about talk of Mike Ashley selling Newcastle United when having him on his talkSPORT show on Wednesday morning.
The Sky Sports presenter directly asked for the 52-year-old’s thoughts on the Magpies potentially being sold after pointing out that Wise was known to be friends with the businessman.
Wise shared Ashley didn’t talk about selling the Magpies when he saw him recently but added that he thought that the 54-year-old would only sell the club to the right buyer.
“We didn’t talk about that side of things, it was other things that we spoke about,” said the former Magpies executive director on talkSPORT (Wednesday, December 19th, 10:58am).
“I think he will sell it if it’s the right person, I don’t think he will give it to someone who will stripe the club, he’ll only hand it over to someone who is obviously going to take it in another direction.
“And erm like pile some money in and make it happen for Newcastle.”
OPINION
Wise is not the most popular person among Magpies supporters to say the least but him sharing that he believes his friend Ashley will sell the club is news that they will appreciate. While the 52-year-old clearly points out that the buyer needs to be right for Ashley to sell, it’s good to hear someone close to the businessman effectively backed the idea the club will soon change hands. It’s also reassuring that Wise believes Ashley wouldn’t let the club fall into someone’s hands who wanted to stripe it down for assets in order to line their pockets. While Ashley hasn’t been the best owner for the Magpies, when you consider his reluctance in transfer markets, there have been clubs worse run in recent times. It’s also worth noting that why Ashley and Wise haven’t spoken about Newcastle being sold, that doesn’t mean it isn’t on the cards as they probably enjoying discussing non-football related matters when they have the chance.
