The end of another working week and another round of stories suggesting Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is looking to sell the club. Now where have we heard this one before?
I don't claim to be an expert in the world of business. If I was I would either have won The Apprentice and be working for Alan Sugar by now, or I would be a billionaire like Big Mike. Actually there is probably some middle ground, but rest assured I'm better at writing than I am at managing my finances!
However, I do know that everything has a price and this is particularly true of Premier League football clubs.
I feel a quick maths lesson is needed. If you buy something for, say, £250m and someone offers you £470m for it 12 months later you would have to be a)mad b) stupid or c) the product has sentimental value not to sell.
These stories do not say that Ashley is actively looking to sell Newcastle, what they say is that he was approached by an American finance group who enquired about buying the club from him.
He quoted a price of £470m, they went back to their offices, forgot about the idea and worried about the forthcoming Presidential elections instead.
I don't see that this is anything to get too worried about, although the leaking of the information, apparently from the American end, isn't helpful for a club which is trying to make decisive moves in the transfer market.
But Ashley hasn't done anything wrong or underhand. If someone was to offer the Glazer family one billions pounds for Manchester United they would sell, if someone was to offer to buy Liverpool for more than their American owners paid for the club, they would sell. If someone was to offer £200m plus for Sunderland, Niall Quinn would pack up and take the Drumaville Consortium with him.
Football is big business and big businesses get taken over. I hope this doesn't happen to Newcastle at this stage as it seems Ashley's regime has just about got things in working order after a year of getting their feet under the table, but there isn't much anyone can do if it does. It's just the way of the world.
If we are realistic we should just accept that Ashley will sell for a profit if he gets the right offer. He isn't from Newcastle and he wasn't even a Newcastle supporter before he took over so there isn't any sort of emotional attachment.
All we can ask is that he gives his manager the financial backing needed to improve the team while he does still own the club, for however long that turns out to be...
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