Report: It’s Happening

According to pretty much everyone, Amanda Staveley and PCP Partners are close to agreeing to a deal to purchase Newcastle United from Mike Ashley. Staveley apparently improved her bid to £300 million and Ashley will sign on the dotted line shortly. The deal isn’t likely to officially go through until late-January or early-February, but Ashley will fund January sales and will be reimbursed by PCP.

It has been ten long years under Ashley with two relegations, one 5th place finish, a Europa League quarterfinal, and frequently underfunded squads. We’ve gone through two spells of Joe Kinnear, a botched stadium name change, tacky advertising all over St. James’ Park (this will apparently continue in the short-term), limited commercial opportunities, and a club shop run by SportsDirect. It is finally safe to say the clouds over SJP are parting.

We don’t know what kind of owners Staveley and PCP will be for Newcastle. The Daily Mail is reporting the January transfer budget will be around £30 million. Whether that’s true or not, we’ll see. Even if that is the case, it sounds like Rafa will have a greater flexibility with loans and player sales, as well as a hierarchy not actively blocking signings like this summer.

From there, who knows. Staveley’s connections with the Manchester City sale allows us to dream of a world where St. James’ Park is modernized, a new training center and academy is built, and NUFC is constantly in the top half of the table. Ultimately, we don’t really know much about her or the investors behind PCP.. What we do know about her seems to indicate we can finally expect Newcastle to be run like a normal club, one with ambition, growth, and a vision. For now, let’s solidify our squad, stay in the Premier League, and help make Newcastle United reach it’s potential. Oh yeah, and probably a good time to pop some champagne too.