Keith Harris - Is This The Guy With Orville The Duck?
By Nu Mad
Updated Monday, 24th November 2008
I'm sure I'm not the first to ask this question ... but this guy Keith Harris (who Mike Ashley has put in charge of selling the Toon) ... is he the ventriloquist with puppets Orville the Duck and Cuddles the Monkey?
Because ... to tell you truth ... I think we'd be better off giving the job to Orville!
According to Harris, Newcastle are unlikely to be sold until February if a deal is not done inside the next three weeks.
Harris has confirmed his suspicion that the current economic climate and impending transfer window mean a sale may not go through until well into the new year.
Harris, chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce, told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek show: "What I have said in the past is, if you put yourself in the position of a prospective owner of Newcastle or any other football club, you want to be there and have had a chance to work with the manager to decide on what should happen to the playing staff, both coming out and going in.
"If that isn't the case, you probably want to wait and see how the activity was in January, so you would defer it until February.
"We are nudging now towards mid-November and unless it is going to happen in the next couple of weeks, maybe three weeks, it is probably likely to be deferred until after the close of the window, when also people have got some hopes that the financial chaos will have settled down a little.
"It's my gut feeling, but it is no more than gut. I have got nothing tangible to base it on other than that instinct.
"I don't think there is anything negative in that, it is force of circumstances.
"With Newcastle, the situation is relatively straightforward. The last month to six weeks has been, in the financial markets, the worst that anyone can ever remember, without any real sign, any tangible sign, of them getting better.
"The people that have either approached us, or we have approached and have responded positively, are no less affected.
"Whether you are worth £20billion, £10billion, you were probably worth a great deal more six weeks ago.
"People are being exceptionally cautious. The thing that has come in our favour is a strong performance of the US dollar, particularly against sterling, which means that it (buying an English club) has become much cheaper. We are hoping that comes to fruition.
"Obviously, we also have a transfer window coming up, the only chance a club has to amend its playing staff materially during the course of the season, and that will be playing on potential new owners' minds right now."
