New Irish Bid On Cards For Newcastle
Former Sunderland shareholder and Irish publican Charlie Chawke is hoping to put together a syndicate to buy newly relegated club Newcastle United.
Chawke was part of the Drumaville consortium which bought Sunderland three years ago and which was bought-out by Ellis Short in May.
‘We’re trying to put together a syndicate interested in football and then investing with us in Newcastle,’ Chawke stated. ‘Newcastle would fit very nicely into our portfolio. It is a great club.’
Newcastle owner Mike Ashley wants £100m for the club for which he paid £134.4m in May 2007 and is believed to have invested a total of £244m in the club since then.
Newcastle were relegated from the Premier League last season and the club claim to have had at least two bids which have met the current asking price.
Chawke confirmed preliminary talks are taking place with Newcastle, although they are with the club’s legal and financial people rather than Ashley.
Added Chawke: ‘It’s on sale for about £100m, which is about £500m less than what it was worth a year-and-a-half or two years ago. We’re thinking about possibly the same as we had in Sunderland, about eight people maybe, depending on what money we can get.
‘It’s a great city, Newcastle. It’s a bit like Dublin – vibrant, full of fun – all the best things in life are there. It makes perfect sense if I could just swing it.’
