Llambias: Nobody had cash to buy club

Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias has moved to clear up any confusion over the second aborted attempt to sell the club, revealing none of the prospective buyers came up with the money to buy the Magpies.

Owner Mike Ashley once again took the club off the market earlier in the season after a series of interested parties expressed firm interest, with Tyneside businessman Barry Moat among them.

However despite several groups tabling offers at the agreed price of £100m (€112m), none of them were able to come up with the money.

Writing in his programme notes ahead of this afternoon’s derby clash with Middlesbrough, Llambias said: “We did receive several bids that met the £100m asking price but, despite giving all parties involved our full support in their attempts to push the sale through, only two of those parties completed the due diligence process and reached the Sale Purchase Agreement stage.

“Once those documents were in place, the necessary funding required to complete the sale of the club never actually materialised.

“So while there were bids on the table, when it came to the crunch, none of the bidders actually came up with the agreed funds.”