Bob Ratcliffe, the brother of Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has claimed that their group INEOS had a look at potentially buying Newcastle United in the summer, but they were put off by the asking price.
They have instead bought OGC Nice and are intending to eventually challenge PSG, however, what is worrying about this latest revelation is that Sir John, who has an estimated fortune of £21 billion, thought that Mike Ashley’s demands were too extortionate.
INEOS did also look at other Premier League clubs, and they were also put off by other asking prices, but a club such as Newcastle should be a prime target for an ambitious owner.
The club is the centre of the city, and there is a lot of untapped potential, but Ashley is either an unwilling seller, or he simply wants too much money.
Certainly, many Newcastle fans are sick of the takeover stories as they all seem to follow a similar pattern.
First an exclusive from a paper emerges claiming that the Toon are going to be finally sold.
Then nothing is heard for weeks just the odd mention of talks ongoing – before Ashley releases a public statement saying that the takeover is off.
This happened over the summer with the Bin Zayed Group, last year it was Peter Kenyon and the year before it was Amanda Staveley.
The INEOS story never got that far this time but don’t be surprised if the takeover talks emerge in the winter at some point.
This latest story about INEOS spells trouble for a lot of Magpies supporters – as it seems to indicate that Ashley wants too much for the club and, unfortunately, they could be stuck with him for the foreseeable future.