Newcastle's Mike Ashley holds firm on £100m sale price as pressure mounts on Barry Moat

18 August 2009 13:26
The defiant stance has intensified the pressure on Tyneside businessman Barry Moat to come up the money necessary to buy the club from Ashley and install his close friend, Alan Shearer, as manager, as it was claimed he faces competition from two other parties interested in the club. Ashley had been expected to appoint Shearer himself following relegation last May but promptly put the club up for sale for a figure of 100 million a sum he seems determined is met as he aims to cut his losses two years after he bought the club for 134.4 million and subsequently paid off debts to the tune of 110 million. There are three parties now interested in buying the club from Mike Ashley of which Barry Moat is and one thing in common for all of them is that the asking price is 100 million all ways round, a reliable source close to the Newcastle board told Telegraph Sport. Moat can now be considered as the outsider of three but if the business is not concluded by Friday then there is a problem and there is a good chance the club will be taken off the market. Telegraph Sport was first to reveal that Moat had emerged as the front-runner to buy the club earlier this month but talks between him and Ashley have so far remained deadlocked. The pair were sat next to each other in the directors' box during Newcastle's 3-0 victory over Reading last weekend but no one at the club was able to clarify the significance of their camaraderie. Ashley has today been urged to pave the way for Shearer to allow the club's supporters to start dreaming again by flogging the St James' Park club. The call on the sports retail tycoon to sever his links with the Tyneside club to enable Shearer to take the helm and invigorate Newcastle came from one of his predecessor in the No9 shirt, Mick Quinn. Quinn, who scored 59 goals in his 115 Newcastle appearances from 1989 to 1992, spoke out as Ashley attempted to sell the club to local businessman Barry Moat who is expected to make the appointment of Shearer his priority should he complete a takeover. There have been various reports saying that Ashley wants to stay now but it would be for the good of the club if someone stepped in and bought him out and brought Alan Shearer into the club, Quinn told Telegraph Sport. People outside the North-East can all moan all they want about Alan managerial-wise by saying that he is not experienced enough but, hold on, you've got Mike Ashley and a chairman in Chris Mort and then a managing director in Derek Llambias and this was their first club. So as far as I'm concerned if there was a consortium there and if you got the right man in as manager in Alan Shearer, you could bounce straight back up and they would be guaranteed 52,000 at St James' Park for every home game when things were going well. Shearer is the only person that the fans want. You could go back over old ground and bring back Joe Kinnear or appoint David O'Leary but that is the only way you would fill that stadium. Alan Shearer is the only person that could get the fans dreaming again. Liverpool-born Quinn, a former Coventry and Portsmouth player who is now a radio pundit as well as a horse-racing trainer, believes that stability is that only way to ensure the club's fortunes are revived. The 47-year-old continued: It's been bitterly disappointing to see what happened at Newcastle. They just weren't good enough. The players weren't good enough. It was an absolute disaster. The club has had more managers while it has been in the Premier League than anyone else around. That's a damning indictment. That speaks volumes about what has gone on. It's been an absolute mess. The cycle of hiring and firing has to stop for the good of the club and its magni ficent supporters. Ideally, looking ahead Alan Shearer should be given the time and patience to build a side capable of challenging for honours. Whatever happens, though, hey need to hire a manager and stick with him through thick and thin. That's the way forward. Newcastle's first two games of the Championship season have yielded four points and caretaker manager Chris Hughton will be out to build on their promising start to the season when Sheffield Wednesday visit the North-East on Wednesday night.

Source: Telegraph