If a bid by a Nigerian consortium for Newcastle United comes to fruition, they could become the first African owned club in the Premiership. Jokers are, of course, saying that owner Mike Ashley has already E-mailed his bank details. The front man for the bid is Chris Nathaniel of NVA Management entertainment group. He claims to have been ‘working hard to get wealthy and football-loving Nigerian entrepreneurs to buy the club’. Supposedly his consortium is willing to meet the asking price of £400m and have already collected £350m.
If a bid by a Nigerian consortium for Newcastle United comes to fruition, they could become the first African owned club in the Premiership. Jokers are, of course, saying that owner Mike Ashley has already E-mailed his bank details. The front man for the bid is Chris Nathaniel of NVA Management entertainment group. He claims to have been ‘working hard to get wealthy and football-loving Nigerian entrepreneurs to buy the club’. Supposedly his consortium is willing to meet the asking price of £400m and have already collected £350m. Nathaniel insists that the bid is not a stunt and that he just needs to raise another £50m or £100m to see off interested Arab investors. Meanwhile, Newcastle has appointed London-based investment bank Seymour Pierce to handle the sale of the club. The bank’s chairman is Keith Harris, the former chairman of the Football League, who brokered buyouts at Chelsea and Aston Villa. With initial interest from India and the Middle East fading, he has to find a buyer. Ashley may have to drop an asking price which is more than three times what he paid for the club 16 months ago.