Trio involved in Newcastle takeover bids?
Current Toon owner Mike Ashley wants a quick sale of the club and brokers Seymour Pierce, led by Keith Harris, are in discussions with upto 5 group.
We understand that 3 of the groups could be led by:
SIR TOM HUNTER
A Scottish billionaire who has previously attempted to takeover Glasgow Rangers in the past. Hunter previously owned sportswear firm Sports Division, which was sold to JJB Sports, in which Ashley owns shares.
In 2006 Hunter admitted that he
"had a look at Rangers' in terms of possible investment but was 'not prepared to put money in and wave goodbye to it".
With the possibility of buying Newcastle at a knock-down price, Hunter could see the possibility of taking the club back to the Premier League, which could double or even treble the value of the club.
FREDDIE FLETCHER
The controversial former Chief Executive at St James Park, who joined the club from Glasgow Rangers in 1991 and stayed with the club until 2000. He was at the centre of the ‘Save Our Seats’ campaign in 1998, in which the club informed 4,000 season ticket holding fans that their seat prices would be increased to corporate rates, with the option of paying it or being moved to seats in the proposed expanded sections.
Fletcher was the man who brought Kevin Keegan to the club in 1992 and last year Fletcher backed the potentially managerial partnership of Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer:
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put Newcastle where it should be, at the top of the tree,"
"For their own, and the sake of this great club, I say: Don’t blow it!"
"The ideal scenario would then be for Kevin to move into an executive capacity as director of football,"
"In the short term this would achieve much needed stability, but the long-term potential is limitless."
FREDDY SHEPHERD
The former chairman who has this week been linked with a £60m offer for the club. Shepherd would not be able to finance the club and his own and would need financial backers if he was to buy back a stake in the club.
As with Fletcher, Shepherd in an unpopular figure with the fans on a number of issues including:
- Sacking Sir Bobby Robson after only 4 games of the season.
- Being blamed for running the club into massive debt
- The 1998 ‘News of the World Exposé’
- The managerial appointments of Sam Allardyce, Graeme Souness and Glenn Roeder
With an expected announcement on new owners to be made as early as next week, Newcastle players joined pre-season training today under orders from temporary boss Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood who has re-joined the club on a week-to-week basis until new owners take charge.
