There are still parties interested in buying Newcastle United and takeover negotiations are ongoing, according to The Athletic journalist George Caulkin.
The Magpies were heavily linked with a takeover during the summer, with the Dubai-based Bin Zayed Group touted as one potential buyer, but those rumours fizzled out and Mike Ashley remained at the helm.
But writing during a Q&A for the Athletic, Caulkin suggested that there were still some talks ongoing.
He said: “In his interview with the Mail, Ashley said he’s assuming he’ll own Newcastle for the foreseeable future.
“Does that mean all takeover negotiations have stopped or that every interested party has disappeared? I know for a fact they haven’t.
“But the last 12 years show that Ashley is a difficult seller. I think it’s best to expect things to carry on as they are.
“If a takeover does happen, it’ll come out of the blue.”
OPINION
It’s hard to know whether this good news or not for the Toon Army. On the one hand, some talks are better than no talks, but on the other 12 years at the helm have proven just how tricky a customer Ashley can be when it comes to negotiations. Caulkin suggests that a deal could come out of the blue, but that begs the question, how can you get excited about something that could happen at any moment, or not happen at all? You can’t, and the overriding feeling here will be that things are no further forward than they have been at any point previously. All the Magpies’ supporters can do is hope and pray that some kind of minor miracle turns their world upside down, but with each passing month, miracles seem like an increasingly abstract concept on Tyneside. For now, it’s same old, same old, and it could be for the foreseeable future too.
