Newcastle United fans have been warned not to get too excited about the rumoured £350million takeover from Dubai-based billionaire Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed.
Late on Sunday it was claimed Khaled’s Bin Zayed Group had agreed terms with Mike Ashley to end the Magpies owner’s turbulent 12 year spell in charge on Tyneside.
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However, there has been a growing sense of cynicism about the reports in the 24 hours since they first emerged.
On Tuesday it was claimed the deal is not as close as originally reported and that Sheikh Khaled has not provided proof of funds for his proposed takeover.
The Sheikh has previously failed in an attempt to buy Liverpool for £2billion, where he also failed to provide proof of funds.
After four unsuccessful takeover bids in 11 years, Newcastle supporters are harbouring huge hopes that the time has finally come for Mike Ashley to leave their beloved club.
But Craig Hope, North East football correspondent for the Daily Mail, has told talkSPORT there is a huge amount of scepticism about whether the deal will happen.
And there are even suggestions that Sheikh Khaled is not related to Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour, as he claims.
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Speaking to talkSPORT host Jim White, Hope said: “What’s that truth in this? As of yet, we don’t know.
“Let’s use the word caution or, if you want to be stronger, scepticism.
“When the story broke on Sunday night I thought, if a takeover was going to happen, this is how it should happen – bang, overnight, papers in and the first we know about it is when it’s all-but done.
“So that had a very definite ring of truth around it.
“But we made various calls on Monday morning to check out the authenticity of it, and that’s when one of two doubts began to emerge. Sources I trust who are close to the station started expressing extreme caution.
“We were told by sources around Manchester City that in fact there was no relation between Sheikh Khaled and Sheikh Mansour.
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Newcastle fans have long protested Mike Ashley’s reign as owner at St James’ Park
“Why is that important? Because it’s long since been claimed by Sheikh Khaled and his representative that his are related to Sheikh Mansour, so it’s almost like they’re using that as a vehicle for authenticity.
“If that isn’t true and if well-placed sources at Man City are doing their upmost to distance themselves from this, it makes you ask questions.
“We then go away and speak to people around the Liverpool situation and about the £2billion takeover, and we then learned they didn’t provide proof of funds even to the tune of the £25m deposit – the phrase that came back to us was that these guys are ‘timewasters’.
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Mike Ashley is reportedly close to selling Newcastle, but the North East media are not convinced
“And then you have emails landing in the emails of local and national journalists claiming a deal is done.
“Listen, it might well be the case and I really do hope it is, but in my experience this is not how takeovers happen.
“I’m dubious and the evidence coming back to us is supporting that scepticism, and that’s what makes me even more cautious.”
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