THE man responsible for finding a buyer for Newcastle United has revealed he expects to sell the club before the end of the month.
Keith Harris, chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce, confirmed that there were “two or three” parties interested in buying out owner Mike Ashley.
The identities remain unknown, although Harris, who spent time in Dubai last week trying to drum up Middle East interest, hinted the groups involved at this stage were not necessarily from abroad.
“I’m confident there will be offers to consider in quite short order,” said Harris, as Freddy Shepherd again emerged as a potential buyer.
“By the end of June would be ideal because clearly the transfer window is now open.
“The players start to report back earlier than they would in the Premier League for pre-season training, so I would think someone wanting to own this club would want to be in possession of it by the end of this month.
“There is real and decent interest. This is not from far flung parts of the globe who expressed interest at first.
This is good, gritty interest.”
In recent weeks Shepherd’s name has been privately discounted because there had been no contact between the former chairman and either Ashley or Harris.
But reports claim a consortium led by him are looking to purchase the club for £75m.
When Ashley put Newcastle on the market a week ago he had hoped to receive £100m, although experts believe £80m would be a more realistic figure.
Alan Shearer’s position grows increasingly uncertain with Ashley feeling it difficult to conclude discussions about him taking over as manager full-time while the future of the club is in the air.
If Shepherd was successful he would also try to appoint Shearer, who is due back in the region from holiday in the next 24 hours.
Harris, however, said: “Shearer is obviously a very charismatic figure in the area and Newcastle need some local interest. He is a good commercial addition, certainly in terms of generating interest among the fans.
“Whether he is the right man to lead the club back into the Premier League is something other people will express a view on, especially if there is going to be a change of ownership.
“It’s a huge club. In attendance terms it exceeded Liverpool last season. For someone to take a view of two or thee years this is a club that belongs in the Premier League’s top seven, not in the Championship.
“There is some cleaning up do to player-wise but I’m confident as things stand now, with the economy better, that there will be offers to consider in quite short order.”
The “cleaning up” of the playing staff has already started. Players earning more than £50,000 a week are the most under threat and football agents First Artists have been told to offload as many as possible, with Obafemi Martins, Jonas Gutierrez, Fabricio Coloccini, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique those most likely to leave.
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