Source: Daily_Mail
Got a spare £100m and fancy buying Newcastle? Ashley invites email offers
Newcastle have posted an email address on their official website inviting offers of £100million to buy the crisis club.
Owner Mike Ashley is desperate to sell up and today confirmed the asking price after their relegation from the Barclays Premier League.
Newcastle have taken the unprecedented step of welcoming bids via email in a statement.
'The Board of Newcastle United can today confirm that the Club is for sale at the price of £100m,' the statement read.
'Interested parties should contact Newcastle United at admin@nufc.co.uk (or Keith Harris at Seymour Pierce) for further details.'
Harris is working on behalf of Ashley to sell the troubled club as they prepare for life in the Championship next season.
Harris, the chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce, has claimed that there are already 'two or three' interested parties, particularly given the size of St James' Park.
'It is a huge club,' he said. 'If you think in attendance terms last year, it exceeded Liverpool, averaging 48,000 and Liverpool a little over 45,000.
'If you walk around the infrastructure, the training ground, the academy, if you're a person who is willing to take a view over the next two to three years, this is a club that belongs in the top seven.'
Ashley is using agency First Artists to sell most of the 15 players on the club's books who earn more than £50,000 a week.
The announcement came as no surprise, with Ashley's desperation to offload the club he bought for £134.4million in May 2007 growing by the day.
However, the continuing uncertainty is proving hugely disruptive to the club's preparation for the new season and the challenge of returning to the Premier League at the first attempt.
Alan Shearer, who has indicated a willingness to take on the role of manager on a permanent basis, is due to return from a short break later today and will be looking for an early answer over whether or not he is wanted after several rounds of talks.
However, there is little prospect of Ashley and managing director Derek Llambias making hard and fast decisions while the ownership issue remains unresolved.
