Journalist Claims Mike Ashley Will Only Lower Newcastle Asking Price on One Condition
Reports indicate that Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is now prepared to accept a lower offer to sell the club, as the 'fed up' retail tycoon seeks a way out of St James' Park.
Newcastle fans have staged numerous protests towards Ashley's controversial ownership of the club, with fans frustrated at a perceived lack of investment.
While Ashely has received offers to buy the club since putting it up for sale in October of last year. However, none have met the asking original price of around £380-400m.
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Reports now suggest that Ashley is willing to drop his asking price by around £80-100m in order to attract suitors.
Mark Douglas of the Chronicle Live meanwhile claims that Ashley would only accept a lower offer with 'no clauses' attached.
Douglas wrote earlier in September: “I know of interest: I can tell you there are at least two interested parties I’ve been told about (one would be PCP Capital, who retain interest but not at the prices being quoted).
"But whether it ever amounts to anything more than that is the £400million question.
“Or should that be £300million, because two weeks ago I was told friends of Mike Ashley were saying he would accept an offer in that region if there were no clauses attached to it.
"The same person said he was fed up with football – although I’ve heard that before.”
Ashley was believed to be close to selling the club to PCP Capital before the summer. However, discussions were ended with Ashley reportedly calling them 'a complete waste of time'.
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This summer, Newcastle spent only £23m on new players despite generating £44m from player sales. Much of the anger towards Ashley is centred around the fact that the remaining £21m of income was not invested in the squad, which is badly in need of improvement.
He has previously promised to invest in the squad, with manager Rafa Benitez claiming (via The Daily Mail) that Ashley had promised to invest as much money as possible in the first team squad, which has left fans frustrated that this £21m of profit was not reinvested.
The Magpies currently sit in 19th place in the table, with only one point from their opening five matches. With upcoming matches against Crystal Palace and Leicester City, Newcastle will be keen to see results improve soon.
