Journalist close to Mike Ashley says takeover 'likely' - but makes bizarre Staveley / Saudi claim
The Daily Mail’s Martin Samuel has written a piece about Amanda Staveley’s recent attempt to buy us, and to be honest, it’s as curious as the “interview” he was told to print, sorry, I mean did with Mike Ashley last summer.
Samuel, who is reportedly one of Ashley’s closest confidants in the English media is basically questioning the need for Staveley’s involvement at all, labelling her a “fixer” - "Why does a Saudi billionaire need a fixer to buy Newcastle?" he says.
The whole thing seems very critical of the Yorkshire born business woman while conveniently omitting important facts that Samuel is too smart to omit by accident.
Encouragingly though he does say the takeover is likely. Here’s a link to the article below:
There’s too much to quote in total but in short, Samuel is too thorough a journalist to have missed what every other report seems to - that Staveley is more than a “fixer”.
She’s allegedly put the whole thing together and will be involved in the day to day running of the club should the takeover happen. Even is she was in this capacity, she successfully brokered the deal that saw the Mansour family buy Manchester City, and is clearly a big hitter in her profession. This isn’t mentioned once in the entire article.
There’s also other factors, like having someone in there to bridge the cultural gap, or be the western face of the deal for various other reasons. One can only guess his motives for such a lopsided article. Perhaps the most ridiculous line from the whole piece is
“Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spent over £750m on a yacht and a painting, so why does he/the Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, need Amanda Staveley to fix a deal for Newcastle”.
I’m sorry that’s nonsense. An experienced award winning football journalist comparing buying a yacht to a Premier League football club.
It was always going to be a little messy between Ashley and Staveley, as when the whole thing fell through two years ago, Ashley resorted to insults when he called her a “tyre kicker” through the media. Clearly rattled, Staveley responded by granting an exclusive interview with George Caulkin, then of The Times, in which she defended her intentions and showed proof of the official bid.
But hopefully the next few days will prove money talks.
