Relegated side reach ridiculous new low in quest for new owners

Fancy owning a Championship football team with shockingly low morale and a dangerously under-qualified manager? Or perhaps you would like a quick and convenient way to belittle Newcastle Utd with prank offers and random abuse? Either way, you can now get in touch via admin@nufc.co.uk, the contact email they put on their official website last night.

What a shockingly unprofessional way to try and sell a football club. We’d expect a lot more from Keith ‘dealbreaker’ Harris, the former Football League chairman who has negotiated on behalf of Liverpool and Manchester Utd in the past.

Are you intending to send the Toon a message? Why not share it with the rest of the class in the comments section before you do…

Financial turmoil could flush out unwanted owners

Earlier this year, Hank Hicks and Billy Bob Gillett ran into a little money trouble and faced the prospect of offloading Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel just to pay the heating bills. Today, the papers are awash with the news that the American investors have suffered at the hands of the current financial apocalypse and will owe two banks (Wachovia and the Royal Bank of Scotland) £350m in January. They do not currently have the cash, and refinancing loans from two of the worst hit banks in the crisis will be harder than getting Ledley King to stay sober in a nightclub.

While the prospect of a fire sale right in the middle of a serious title campaign is a possible (and potentially disastrous) way of raising much-needed equity, the current predicament does have a rather large silver lining: Hicks and Gillett may be desperate to bail out, forcing

Two buyers lined up for top flight’s worst performing club

No one needs to remind Spurs that their season-opening form is their worst in over half a century (although it’s quite funny to do so), but their strength on the pitch is far exceeded by their strength in the financial market: the club are said to be close to selling up to one of two buyers, who are interested taking over the profitable and successful business chairman Daniel Levy has created.

The club constantly deny a sale is on the cards, but today’s Guardian says a billionaire from the Far East could take the reins by the end of the week if a reasonable price is agreed and ’super-agent’ Pini Zahavi can broker a deal.

BBC columnist Mihir Bose reports that Levy and the board believe an acceptable price would be around £400m, and that a British consortium is also in the running.

Joe Lewis, owner of 82 per cent of the club, lost around £400m when Bear Stearns went down the pan, and may be looking to recoup the loss by selling. He shouldn’t find the task as difficult as the one Mike Ashley faces,