Failed takeover and unhappy fans: What's going on at Newcastle?

Is Amanda Staveley's takeover bid dead in the water?

My opinion is that it is dead until the end of the season - or at least until Newcastle's fate is sealed one way or another regarding which division they will be playing in next season. That's pretty much the reason it fell through in the first place.

If Newcastle get relegated, then the club is worth significantly less than it would be in the Premier League. So when they won a few games in a row earlier this season, the value of the club increased. But when they went on a run without winning - as they did between November and December - then the value of the club decreased because relegation looked more likely.

I think that's why there was such a delay over the deal and why there was a discrepancy between Mike Ashley's valuation of the club and Staveley's. I can't see her buying the club in the Championship. She wants to be in charge of a Premier League club. So that's why her bids were not quite at the level that Ashley wanted.
Amanda Staveley's takeover bids fell short of Ashley's valuation
Amanda Staveley's takeover bids fell short of Ashley's valuation

She wanted to insert relegation clauses in the event that they went down, so she would then be owed some money back by Ashley. But being the businessman that he is, Ashley wanted a straight sale with no clauses. He would have taken instalments, but he didn't want any caveats or clauses.

If Newcastle had been sitting in the top 10 and looking safe, I think the sale would have had a real chance of going through before Christmas. They were in a healthy position when the club was put up for sale in October, but by the time December came around, they were struggling. With that, the value and attractiveness of the club went down.
What are the chances of resurrecting the deal?

When we broke the news that the deal was off, Ashley said in his statement to us that he had walked away from the deal and that negotiating with Staveley had been a waste of time. But she disputed that in her interview with The Times. But I don't think it's 100 per cent off.

What I do think, though, knowing Ashley and the way he operates, is that she will have to increase her current bid. From what I've been told by certain people involved, he is looking for around £300m, but her last bid fell around £50m short of that.