Just a Little Bit Longer: Financial Expert Reckons Newcastle Takeover Deal is Just Around the Corner

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has said that he believes the new Premier League TV deals could push the Newcastle takeover over the line soon.

Fans were hoping to see Mike Ashley relinquish his position as club owner ahead of 2018, but the retail magnate walked away from negotiations with Amanda Stavely and her company PCP Capital Partners after growing impatient with their insistence on bidding below his asking price.

Maguire, a Liverpool University accounting teacher, knows persons close who were involved in the deal, per the Chronicle, and reckons that things could be sewn up sooner rather than later due to the league's TV rights deals, set to be announced in March.

“I think Mike Ashley was gambling – he is a gambler,” Maguire told a local newspaper.

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“He was gambling on a 15-20% rise in the domestic TV rates and given that they have not managed to sell the final packages and the Premier League has gone back to the drawing board to try and sell them, I think we can assume they’ll be £300-400million short on the previous deals.

“If Mike Ashley was banking on this deal going up by 15-20% and they are actually down 10%.

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“I think given Ashley has probably factored in a rise in the domestic TV deal, we should – in theory – see a narrowing of the difference between the asking price and the price that Amanda Staveley should be willing to pay, I think this allows them to reach a conclusion if both parties are serious about this transaction.”

Stavely, meanwhile, is not prepared to walk away from a potential takeover just yet and is expected to return with a fresh offer after the said deal is announced at the end of next month.