Report: Staveley may pull plug on Newcastle bid as Ashley raises price

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Amanda Staveley is reportedly considering pulling the plug on her plans to buy Newcastle United with Mike Ashley raising the asking price.

According to a report from the Daily Mirror, Amanda Staveley is seriously considering walking away from the negotiating table as she continues to try and buy Newcastle United after Mike Ashley raised the club’s asking price.

Staveley has been linked with a buy-out of the Magpies for several months and there have been times when the Newcastle fans probably felt that they were tantalisingly close to seeing the end of Ashley’s tenure with the club. However, it now appears that the two parties are as far away as ever from reaching an agreement.

The Mirror reports that Ashley has now raised his asking price for a third time, with the current figure now set at £400 million, and Staveley is contemplating whether to abandon her plans to buy the club.

The Mirror adds that Staveley walking away is likely to put a further question mark over Rafa Benitez’s future at St James’ Park, with the Spaniard currently discussing a new contract with the Magpies. Staveley had reportedly decided that the 58-year-old was going to be a key part of her plans if she managed to get the buy-out completed.

Of course, if Ashley decides that he is prepared to stick around, it does not necessarily mean that Benitez will want to walk away having devoted so much time to re-establishing the Magpies as a club that has the potential to perhaps win the best of the rest table in the Premier League that tends to begin below the top six.

But if Staveley does end up walking away from the negotiating table, Newcastle fans will be desperately hoping that Ashley decides to make it clear to Benitez that he wants him to stay – both with the terms of the contract on the table and with the transfer budget that he hands him this summer.

Newcastle should have been able to go into this summer reflecting on the springboard they had given themselves with a surprise 10th place finish. Instead however, it appears that uncertainty is set to remain a key part of the narrative for the time-being.