Quantcast
Social Media

Darren Gough delivers verdict on Newcastle takeover

|
Image for Darren Gough delivers verdict on Newcastle takeover

Darren Gough claimed he had seen an email regarding the mooted Newcastle United takeover and that discussions had been going on for eight months.

A Newcastle fan called Dave phoned into talkSPORT to share that he thought the Bin Zayed Group’s takeover was possible as he knew more than Gough and Adrian Durham and highlighted how this takeover had been spoken about since January in the area.

The Magpies supporter then highlighted The Sun’s recent report that claimed talks were going well, and this prompted Gough to share what he knew about the goings on regarding the potential takeover.

“Ade, Ade Ade, I told you how many months ago about this football club being taken over and that was before I went to Sri Lanka, so it’s been going on before January mate, as I know actually who has been doing the deal,” said Gough on talkSPORT (18:27, Friday, June 21st).

“It’s been going on well before then so this deal has been going on for eight months and it still hasn’t gone through, they’re desperately trying to get it through, all this rubbish they haven’t shown the money, they have.

“I’ve seen the email, I’ve seen it”.

Durham then shared that no one can be confident that Ashley is selling Newcastle and was cut off when talking about Rafa Benitez’s future by Gough.

The retired cricketer shared Benitez was confident but that it was taking so long as Ashley kept whacking up the price of the club.

“He is (if Benitez is confident) but he has put the price up, when he gets close to the deal as a typical businessman does, as he has done to himself, he gets close then puts the price up,” added the former cricketer.

“Guess what they’re staying in the Premier League another season, they finished 13th so he whacks the price up and it puts the pressure back on the people who want to buy the club and they go back around in a circle again before they get anywhere.

“This is what is happening, why do people think it’s taking so long, cause the price is whacked up another 50-60 million.”

OPINION

Gough was adamant that he knew about the mooted Newcastle takeover and made that clear when stating clearly he had seen an email. While the pundit’s claim about BZG having the funds is promising, the rest of his remarks are worrying and somewhat believable. It’s easy to imagine Ashley keeps hiking up the price in order to get the best deal possible, and that doesn’t make it sound like a takeover is imminent. If Ashley is really doing that, and proving hard to deal with, surely it won’t take long before BZG considers other football clubs to buy. As why would a business group continue to bang their head against the wall and get nowhere with Ashley, as it would surely be seen as a waste of their time. However, if Gough is right, that the group have been sniffing around Newcastle for eight months, then maybe they’re not put off easily. Also, the other interesting piece of information Gough let’s slip is that he believes Benitez is confident that a takeover is occurring, and that would explain why he hasn’t made a decision about his future. However even though this update is detailed, is Gough really an in-the-know source?

Share this article