Former Newcastle United owner Sir John Hall was approached over potentially becoming part of a consortium to buy the club off Mike Ashley, according to the Chronicle.
The north eastern entrepreneur sold his 41.6% stake in the club for £55 million to Ashley in 2005 after deciding that he could no longer compete financially with a new breed of billionaire investor.
It is understood, however, that the man who built the Metrocentre is uninterested in rekindling any involvement with the Magpies.
OPINION
Reports like this are always a little bit of bittersweet thing for Newcastle United fans. In one respect, it shows that there are moves being made behind the scenes to ensure the club is moved on from under the near-tyrannical rule of Mike Ashley, but at the same time, every time another one comes out, it just reaffirms how difficult it is going to be to find a serious alternative. Realistically, Hall was never really going to be a proper option for a buyout. The whole reason the 86-year-old sold up in the first place was because he didn’t believe that he could compete financially. That was in 2005, and things have gone stratospheric in the mean time. The chances of him being convinced that he could now cut it in a world of oil tycoons and Saudi sheikhs is almost laughable. The middlemen who approached Hall, hopefully will have better luck looking elsewhere.
