Chawke may join queue to buy Newcastle

IRISH BUSINESSMEN Charlie Chawke and Louis Fitzgerald are seeking investors to join them in bidding for Newcastle United.

The publican and hotelier were part of the Drumaville consortium that bought Sunderland three years ago and now plan to set up a similar group in an attempt to repeat the success they enjoyed with the Black Cats.

Chawke, who was bought out of Sunderland when American Ellis Short took full control of the club in May, revealed the interest on RTÉ Radio yesterday.

“We’re putting a syndicate hopefully together to do just that (bid for Newcastle),” he said. “We had a great time in Sunderland. We got seven Irish people and one English person together with a syndicate and we succeeded in acquiring Sunderland.

“We had three great years there but unfortunately we’re gone now. It’s sold out to an American and we’re looking for options and Newcastle is a very viable option at the moment.

“We’re thinking about possibly the same as we had in Sunderland, about eight people maybe, depending on what money we can get. It’s a great club, it houses 52,000 people. It’s a great city, Newcastle.”

Contact has already been made with the Championship club, through Seymour Pierce, the investment bank overseeing the sale process, though talks are at a very early stage.

With investors yet to be secured, it would appear Chawke and Fitzgerald are playing catch-up. Managing director Derek Llambias has confirmed that “more than two” consortia have already matched owner Mike Ashley’s asking price of £100million (€116m). Ashley paid £134.4m for the Magpies in May 2007 and has invested in the region of £244m since then.

The Profitable Company – based in Singapore – last week claimed, through commercial director and former Liverpool and England midfielder Steve McMahon, it had already bid for the club.

Former chairman Freddie Shepherd is believed to have made a bid as well and has returned to Newcastle from Spain to oversee the process, while a Malaysian-based consortium and a US group are also in the running.

Chawke’s surprising public disclosure of his intentions was in marked contrast to how the process has been carried out so far.

Even Shepherd, whose mouth has landed him in trouble on more than one occasion, has been unusually quiet and when McMahon revealed the Profitable Group’s bid recently, it was suggested he may have breached a “non-disclosure” agreement.

Whether Newcastle fans will warm to investors with such close links to their bitter rivals Sunderland, is unclear, but the progress made by the Wearside club was impressive.

Drumaville took over at the Stadium of Light in 2006 with the club at the foot of the Championship. With Niall Quinn as chairman and Roy Keane installed as manager, they achieved promotion as champions that very season, finished 15th in the Premier League the following year and, unlike Newcastle, narrowly avoided relegation in May.

That said, Drumaville bought into Sunderland in 2006 for just £10m plus a guarantee of future funding and Chawke is now looking for 10 times that in a far more uncertain economic climate, where investors and banks are increasingly reluctant to part with their cash.

Fans will also want assurances that after the initial buyout there would be money available to invest in a squad that is sure to be shorn of the majority of its top earners.

Three of the four other contenders are believed to favour the appointment of Alan Shearer as manager and, though Chawke did not comment on any stance his group might have, the PR battle would certainly be lost if he were to suggest anyone other than the former captain for the position.

In a recent poll conducted by Newcastle’s Evening Chronicle, it was revealed that 52 per cent of season ticket-holders had not renewed for next season, while 65 per cent of those would do so if Shearer was appointed manager.

On the pitch, Newcastle ended their week-long training camp in Ireland with a 3-0 win over Shamrock Rovers at the Tallaght Stadium on Saturday.

Geordie defender Steven Taylor opened the scoring after 57 minutes when he finished from close range. Shola Ameobi doubled the lead with three minutes remaining and Nile Ranger’s 25-yard effort in the dying minutes was his first goal at senior level.

Republic of Ireland international Damien Duff and under-19 defender Callum Morris also played.

Duff has insisted he will stay at Newcastle in a bid to help them back to the Premier League and declined extra time off after international duty to return to training with the rest of the squad in his hometown.

Caretaker manager Chris Hughton was happy with the week’s work. “In the end it was a nice way to finish off what has been an excellent week,” said the former Ireland international defender.

“We’ll regroup now back at home and continue to work the players towards where they need to be for the new season.”