Two left in running to take over at Newcastle

TWO “very serious” contenders to buy Newcastle have emerged and could be in possession of the club by January.

Keith Harris, chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce and the man tasked with selling the club, revealed that out of seven groups who had expressed an interest, just two were left in the running.

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is reportedly seeking £250 million (€308m) for the club and while Harris would not name those involved, he believes a sale will go through before January or early next year.

Both contenders are from overseas but neither have yet reached the stage of conducting due diligence, the process of looking at the details of the club’s accounts.

Harris said: “We have two very serious contenders to buy it.

“This is the serious interest stage, and if you don’t have serious interest you don’t have due diligence.

“In January we have that month of buying and selling players so I would imagine if I were a prospective owner I would want to own it either in time to have an influence on what happens in January, or at a time when I can assess what has happened in January.”

Harris admitted the financial crisis had made selling the club more difficult but that Ashley was still committed to the sale — for the right price.

He insisted though that there had been no attempt so far to seek a much lower sale price. Harris added: “Mike’s position is straightforward, if he can sell it to the right buyer at the right price, he will sell it.

Harris also confirmed that the credit crunch means Dubai-based companies are unlikely to move for Premier League clubs at the moment — last month Zabeel Investments pulled out of a takeover of Charlton.

Harris said: “If you analyse the finances of Dubai it is not an oil-owning state, it is a trading state and has relied heavily on Abu Dhabi for its finance so I think it’s no surprise (that is the case).”

Meanwhile Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton will face no action for flicking out a hand at Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor in Monday’s league clash.

The FA yesterday confirmed that referee Steve Bennett had not seen the incident, in which the 26-year-old caught the Villa man in the face after conceding a disputed free-kick.

However, having been asked to look again at Barton’s actions, Bennett decided that the incident would not have resulted in a red card and therefore there were no grounds for a retrospective charge to be brought.