Anil Ambani in talks to buy Newcastle United: report

Source:Anil Ambani in talks to buy Newcastle United: report

August 03, 2008 19:30 IST
Last Updated: August 03, 2008 20:05 IST

Indian business tycoon Anil Ambani is in talks to take English Premier League club Newcastle United, it was reported on Sunday.

British weekly newspaper News of the World said Ambani, the sixth richest man in the world, is already in negotiations with club owner Mike Ashley for a reported 260 million pounds (US $ 510 million) takeover.

But the chairman of Reliance Capital [Get Quote], Reliance Communication and Chairman & Managing Director of Reliance Energy [Get Quote] faces stiff battle from Singapore-based global investment company Profitable Group, which includes former England [Images] star Steve McMahon, as a director.

Both Reliance and Profitable are ready to pay 260 million pounds to own the Magpies outright and are determined to spend more than 100 million pounds on transfers to bolster the team, managed by Kevin Keegan, the newspaper further said.

Ashley bought Newcastle in July, 2007 for 130 million pounds and immediately pumped in another 80 million pounds to wipe out debts.

The newspaper says Ambani, who has a personal fortune of 21billion pounds, has been in negotiations with Ashley for several weeks, and has made it perfectly clear he will rival Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in the spending stakes.

A figure of around 150 million pounds has been discussed in Ambani's inner circle with the telecoms magnate only too happy to sanction such a sum for players.

this is an interesting news ...hence started a new thread than jus posting it in the football channel

Mukesh got Mumbai Indians, so Anil also wants some Club to own........ :lol:

Super! Iwant this to happen. I so want this to happen.

OMG!!

loluserious?

@iinfi why thumbs down?

T

yeah why thumbs down?

gaurav_indian said:
@iinfi why thumbs down?

I know the reason.

He supports Chel$hit and now he thinks that Newcastle will become another club which will believe in just buying players [Just like Chel$hit] as it will also be owned by a billionaire like Abramovich owns Chel$hit.......... :lol:

So, competition for Chl$hit and thats why a thumbs down......... :lol:

The Conqueror said:
yeah why thumbs down?

Welcome back.......

there is no stopping these AMbani`s...;

Thumbs down.Owners like Ambani will kill the game.

Arsenal_Gunners said:
Thumbs down.Owners like Ambani will kill the game.

+10000000000000000

He'll be another Abramovich, I think....

Arsenal_Gunners said:
Thumbs down.Owners like Ambani will kill the game.

Bandukwale bhai aap itne daave se yeh kaise keh sakte hai ke Ambani will kill the game.

Rich owners kill the game... How?

Polarization of money.If only a few clubs have all the money and silverware the smaller clubs will soon die.

forever said:
Rich owners kill the game... How?

Just see the example of Chelsea. The club is owned by a Russian billionaire named Roman Abramovich......

The club now has lots of $$$ and it just keeps on trading/buying *big* players and never scouts for talent......So, hasn't the game been killed?

If the clubs will have limited funds, they'll scout for talent and then mould/nurture it.........By this way, not only the club, even the country and the sport of football will also get a very good player.....

Another point is when these owners are bored with their respective clubs or have had enough publicity in foreign market they sell it with massive debts on the club which are eventually paid by the loyal fans.

Arsenal_Gunners said:
Polarization of money.If only a few clubs have all the money and silverware the smaller clubs will soon die.

I understand what your trying to say. In the same way like it goes for F1.

Oh oh cmon, how can you say they don't scout for talent? The league playing 11 might not feature a lot of young home grown guys but I am pretty sure that the reserves will have some. I think it was Arsenal or Chelsea that once played without a single English player and that became a huge talking point which apparently has led to some self realization.

Buying players doesn't mean that these guys have shut all their training and youth programs. They can't it's a community issue, doing so will rage an outcry that these clubs won't be able to handle. We saw that when Man U's ownership was changing hands.

iMav said:
Oh oh cmon, how can you say they don't scout for talent? The league playing 11 might not feature a lot of young home grown guys but I am pretty sure that the reserves will have some.

That is the problem with it,young players never crack the all star first team full of mercenaries and their talent is wasted on the bench(ex. Wright Phillips,Sinclare)
Because of these owners the players are being overpriced and the fans have to shell out crazy money for their outrageous wages.

iMav said:
Buying players doesn't mean that these guys have shut all their training and youth programs. They can't it's a community issue, doing so will rage an outcry that these clubs won't be able to handle. We saw that when Man U's ownership was changing hands.

Chelsea and Manure have spent in excess of 200 million pounds on their squads,the days of Beckham,Giggs,Scholes and Neville have passed.

That's a vicious cycle, can't escape it. As far as players not featuring in playing 11, well let's call it bad luck. C. Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney were young when they shot to fame, so was Becks.

hold on ....
Much b4 Roman came into the picture there have been other clubs which bought players and pumped a lot of money thus poaching players from Ajax n West Ham etc. (clubs known to have some good youth system). i don't want to name any and create another uproar.
Roman mite only have taken it to the next level, and with back to back Premiership titles people thought the game is dead. But, for the good of the game its not.
Apart from Roman's money, Jose Mourinho's shrewd tactics and a bunch of players hungry for success contributed to the back to back titles!!
Roman/Mourinho entry into English Football did change the way football is played in England. Sir Alex himself admitted once after Chelsea won the title "I have always said the Premiership is a marathon, but Chelsea have made it a sprint from start to finish"
To keep up with the competition other clubs invested more money and the result was, Premiership got more exciting.

Roman for that matter loves the game and has invested in bringing up a good youth system which is yet to bear fruits.(Sir Alex did the same with United when he came to power in the early 80s and we see the result now)

Thumbs down for Ambani buying the club is because, i highly doubt he is a football fan. he has no track record of managing any sports related business. Though i know he wud hire a whole bunch of advisors, i still feel he is simply not the right person to run a soccer club.

wat say folks?

I hope this will be a success unlike our last place Force-India mates.

^^ So what if he isnt a football fan?
Anil Ambani go for it.

iinfi said:
Thumbs down for Ambani buying the club is because, i highly doubt he is a football fan. he has no track record of managing any sports related business. Though i know he wud hire a whole bunch of advisors, i still feel he is simply not the right person to run a soccer club.

wat say folks?

Neither is the guy who owns Man U, but a fresh team at the top always changes a few things. New Castle was crap even though they had some nice players. I am hoping Ambani's purchase will change the way things happen there and maybe change New Castle's fortunes.

goobimama said:
I hope this will be a success unlike our last place Force-India mates.

C'mon dude, what is the guy supposed to do, the previous owners have made things difficult for him, those guys did nothing for development, Mallya's job is quite tough. He has made some really fast advances for the team.

I should have put a disclaimer there. Better put one now before I cause more damage.

Disclaimer: I don't know squat about sports. Please excuse my noobish comments. (But of course you can't stop em' from coming.)

Btw. Newcastle is a jinxed club.It may destroy Ambani

Arsenal_Gunners said:
Btw. Newcastle is a jinxed club.It may destroy Ambani

Nope Amar Singh will jinx Newcastle with his amarwani after matches. :lol:

Here we go again with the stupersticuous nonsense.

goobimama said:
I should have put a disclaimer there. Better put one now before I cause more damage.

Disclaimer: I don't know squat about sports. Please excuse my noobish comments. (But of course you can't stop em' from coming.)

I am taking your disclaimer seriously.

iinfi said:
hold on ....
Much b4 Roman came into the picture there have been other clubs which bought players and pumped a lot of money thus poaching players from Ajax n West Ham etc. (clubs known to have some good youth system). i don't want to name any and create another uproar.
Roman mite only have taken it to the next level, and with back to back Premiership titles people thought the game is dead. But, for the good of the game its not.
Apart from Roman's money, Jose Mourinho's shrewd tactics and a bunch of players hungry for success contributed to the back to back titles!!
Roman/Mourinho entry into English Football did change the way football is played in England. Sir Alex himself admitted once after Chelsea won the title "I have always said the Premiership is a marathon, but Chelsea have made it a sprint from start to finish"
To keep up with the competition other clubs invested more money and the result was, Premiership got more exciting.

Roman for that matter loves the game and has invested in bringing up a good youth system which is yet to bear fruits.(Sir Alex did the same with United when he came to power in the early 80s and we see the result now)

Thumbs down for Ambani buying the club is because, i highly doubt he is a football fan. he has no track record of managing any sports related business. Though i know he wud hire a whole bunch of advisors, i still feel he is simply not the right person to run a soccer club.

wat say folks?

I partially agree with you.Atleast Abram knows something about running a sports team.Even Malcolm Glazer owned some NFL team before he took over manure.

Hmm .. if Ambani was to bring Mourinho back

today's paper says Rcom has denied making any bids for newcastle.

Damn losers.

Maybe it was just paper talk in the first place.

Finally an Indian owner of an English team, times are changing

I think ambani people r going crazy with their money........