Scottish Mag 3 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 The Belgravia Group are planning to step up their Newcastle United takeover bid as Glenn Roeder's team continues to struggle in the Premiership. United's 1-0 defeat at local rivals Middlesbrough on Sunday brought the first chants for the removal of chairman Freddie Shepherd in 18 months and reports of the mounting discontent had made their way to the Belgravia Group's Jersey headquarters yesterday. The secretive investment group remain tight-lipped about the progress of their talks but, although Shepherd is reluctant to sell his 29% stake, the group have confirmed they will continue to discuss a takeover with all shareholders - not just Shepherd - and are confident a compromise can be reached. It is thought that the key to their plan are the shares owned by Sir John Hall and his family, which total 40.8%. The Halls are rumoured to be keen to cash in on their stake and have, since 1998, already sold 21.35% of their shares for a total of £20.35m. Shepherd, who does not want to sell, has, in contrast, been gradually building up his own stake in the club from 7% to 29% through his company Shepherd Offshore since the club first floated on the stock market in 1997. "We are talking with all Newcastle shareholders about a possible bid and we are still hopeful that we can come to a deal which benefits all parties," said a Belgravia spokesman last night. "Unfortunately, because of stock exchange and plc rules, we cannot go into specific details, but we are still very interested in Newcastle United and we want a deal to happen." The Journal understands that Belgravia will step up their efforts to persuade major shareholders to sell to them in light of the poor results on the pitch which have led to increased supporter unrest. Their hope centres on the fact that Shepherd's resolve to hang on to his shares will lessen if he becomes the target for supporter frustration with the team's poor performances. There are still no signs that United's embattled chairman is willing to loosen his grip. However, according to some financial experts, that might not save him from a hostile takeover attempt. "Freddie Shepherd has enough shares to block the Belgravia Group from taking the club private, which is what they want to do," said Tom Cannon, professor of business at Kingston University in Hull. "He can easily stop them from doing that by refusing to sell his shares and that might put them and any other potential investors off. "But the problem is, with the Halls keen to sell and with lots of small shareholders, Belgravia can easily take their shares beyond the 50% mark and take control of the club. "Freddie is, to all intents and purposes, no matter what has been said and written about him in the past, a supporter of the club. But if Belgravia chose to take that route, it would put him in an uncomfortable position because he will be the minority shareholder at a high-profile club and that isn't an attractive proposition." Despite the strict rules governing proposed takeovers of public companies, rumours had been circulating that an offer valuing the club at around £80m had been made in private by Belgravia. That, though, was denied by Belgravia yesterday, who insist they would have to release the details of any formal bid to the stock exchange. There have also been reports of a second, North-East based, investment group showing interest in the club because of the lack of progress with Belgravia, although the Jersey-based company remain confident that they are still in pole position as they study the club's finances before deciding whether to make a formal offer. The spokesman added: "When a bid is made, or if the talks collapse and we end our interest, we will have to make a statement then. At the moment, we are still extremely interested and the talks are continuing." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44109 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Fingers crossed for this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig 6670 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We need a fucking buy-out, BIG time!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammynb 3342 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We need a fucking buy-out, BIG time!!! If we all chipped in 100 quid each... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We won't necessarily be better off if this happens, although you'd certainly hope that we would we. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottish Mag 3 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 We need a fucking buy-out, BIG time!!! If we all chipped in 100 quid each... http://www.pledgebank.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig 6670 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We won't necessarily be better off if this happens, although you'd certainly hope that we would we. Quite true. But enough is enough, how many more times are we going to give Shepherd the benefit of the doubt and say "he'll get it right next time"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammynb 3342 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We won't necessarily be better off if this happens, although you'd certainly hope that we would we. True but what do you think the chances are of the next owners selling a property worth 175k to their relatives and then leasing it back for 150k/annum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21052 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Better for us to be sold now when there is still a chance of turning us round rather than wait until we are relegated and worthless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Well a takeover would be risky as you never know how it would go. I think most of us would take that risk at the moment. I don't think that's a kneejerk reaction to the current situation, more an accumulation of our despair at the way the club is and has been going for a while now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kelly 1217 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 The club has been rapidly falling apart ever since we failled to see of Partizan in the Champions League qualifier a few years ago. Since then the performances have gone progressively worse and the entertainment has dropped to next to nowt. It's barely worth going to the match any more as we are not enjoying anything but the pre/post match drinks with our mates. Yes there is certainly risk inherent with any take over but we are now in serious danger of the fat get taking us down but more importantly we are looking like losing a significant portion of our own fans to apathy and boredom. I for one welcome anything at this stage that has even the most remote possiblilty of bringing us something to get enthusiastic about again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc-mag 1 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We won't necessarily be better off if this happens, although you'd certainly hope that we would we. disclaimerific! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We won't necessarily be better off if this happens, although you'd certainly hope that we would we. disclaimerific! Not really, read my post two up. I would accept a takeover on balance - from anyone. You thick manc twat. I got your text last night by the way. No worries btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc-mag 1 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We won't necessarily be better off if this happens, although you'd certainly hope that we would we. disclaimerific! Not really, read my post two up. I would accept a takeover on balance - from anyone. You thick manc twat. I got your text last night by the way. No worries btw. 'On balance'........'won't necessarily' Alex in 'already-can't-be-proved-technically-wrong-whatever-the-eventuality' shocker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We won't necessarily be better off if this happens, although you'd certainly hope that we would we. disclaimerific! Not really, read my post two up. I would accept a takeover on balance - from anyone. You thick manc twat. I got your text last night by the way. No worries btw. 'On balance'........'won't necessarily' Alex in 'already-can't-be-proved-technically-wrong-whatever-the-eventuality' shocker! Shush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21052 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 The club has been rapidly falling apart ever since we failled to see of Partizan in the Champions League qualifier a few years ago. Since then the performances have gone progressively worse and the entertainment has dropped to next to nowt. It's barely worth going to the match any more as we are not enjoying anything but the pre/post match drinks with our mates. Yes there is certainly risk inherent with any take over but we are now in serious danger of the fat get taking us down but more importantly we are looking like losing a significant portion of our own fans to apathy and boredom. I for one welcome anything at this stage that has even the most remote possiblilty of bringing us something to get enthusiastic about again. Well said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig 6670 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 from .COM Belgravia statement Latest word from the Jersey-based investment group, which contradicts weekend comments from the ubiquitous "source close to the club" that the Shepherds had no contact with them: "We are talking with all Newcastle shareholders about a possible bid and we are still hopeful that we can come to a deal which benefits all parties. "Unfortunately, because of stock exchange and plc rules, we cannot go into specific details, but we are still very interested in Newcastle United and we want a deal to happen. "When a bid is made, or if the talks collapse and we end our interest, we will have to make a statement then. At the moment, we are still extremely interested and the talks are continuing." PS: No further updates as yet on speculation that a second interested party, involving some high-profile figures with North East connections is also eyeing the club up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kelly 1217 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Anyone got any idea of who the other party is supposed to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig 6670 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 NUFC PLC Statement FOLLOWING press speculation in the Journal newspaper today (Tuesday, October 24) a Newcastle United club spokesman said: "The company has not received a formal offer proposal from any entity." Source: http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsD...~917061,00.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob W 0 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 (edited) We need a fucking buy-out, BIG time!!! If we all chipped in 100 quid each... soooo 52000 x £ 100 = £ 5.2 million - that'll buy you around 13 million shares = 10% of the total hardly makes you a player TBH Edited October 24, 2006 by Rob W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21052 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 We need a fucking buy-out, BIG time!!! If we all chipped in 100 quid each... ssssssssoooo 52000 x £ 100 = £ 5.2 million - that'll buy you around 13 million shares A thousand quid each will give us a controllong share then! Can I be president? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 There are over 1,000,000 Toon Fans in the UK according to a recent survey iirc. £50 each should do it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gram 0 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 There are over 1,000,000 Toon Fans in the UK according to a recent survey iirc. £50 each should do it Half of the west end would need to remortgage their house twice over to raise that kind of wonga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pertoon 0 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Anybody know WHY they want to buy us?. Yes we`re in a bit of a state at the moment and unless we turn things around PRONTO we`re at risk of going down. Yes our Fred makes some mistakes but do we really want to end up another Manure with owners who are only interested in making a fat buck and hike the ticket price up. HAS IT GOT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE CASINO BID? Of course we all want to see the good times back but is this the way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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