Newcastle United will be sold by December, says man in charge of deal
Published 12:08 14/10/08 By By Chris Wilson, Mirror.co.uk
Following this morning's revelation that seven clubs have tabled offers for Newcastle United , the man charged with sealing the deal has said it will go through by December.
Keith Harris of Seymour Pierce was asked to broker a deal to sell the Magpies after owner and sportswear magnate Mike Ashley put the club up for sale exactly one month ago.
It's been a month of extraordinary turbulence in all the world's financial markets but we've been progressing with this, we've been sieving and sifting," Harris told Setanta Sports News.
"There isn't an official deadline but we all know what importance people have in respect to the transfer windows.
"We would expect any new buyer to be in place with his manager to have the opportunity to assess the team as to what needs to be done in January.
"Somebody would want four to five, maybe six weeks to do that, which takes us broadly to the middle of November."
South African businessman Jonathan Cleland has declared his interest in the club and a Nigerian consortium is also thought to be preparing to lodge a bid.
Harris insists that reports suggesting Ashley was willing to drop his asking price for the club are unfounded.
"When newspapers get hold of stories and can't get the figure they want they just invent one.
"Nobody I know knows where the £450million figure ever came from.
"So it's not been a question of dropping the price from that level. It's been a question of making sure people have the absolute facts."
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