Fans pledging to back NUFC buyout

Sep 19 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

NEWCASTLE United supporters from all over the world have been flocking to sign up to a fans takeover of the club.

Peter Williams, a Newcastle fan based in the United States, has set up the website savenewcastle.com and is working with Peter Lee, who said yesterday he wants to offer fans a chance to buy a share of the club for £1,000 through his Newcastle Fans United group.

The club would then be run along similar lines to Barcelona, with members having the right to elect presidents and ensure accountability.

The savenewcastle site has only been open just over a week but has already had over 12,000 hits and many people have registered to say they would be interested in signing up to help the club.

Just 24 hours after the plans were announced, over 600 people have already said they would be prepared to stump up cash for the club.

And last night on the Journallive website, just under half of all Magpies fans who responded to an online poll said they would be prepared to put cash in for a takeover of the club. There are also two Facebook groups dedicated to a fans’ takeover of the club, with hundreds of members.

Mr Williams, 25, a project manager for a petroleum company, said yesterday: “Things have snowballed really nicely, we are very happy with the amount of interest we have had so far.

“We have had over 650 people from around the world expressing interest in being involved and that is even before we have come up with any concrete plans.

“Within two weeks we hope to have those plans finalised and then we can really get going with this.

“The important thing is that all the various groups come together to work as a unit or the whole thing won’t work.”

One fan, John Hird, said on the Savenewcastle.com website: “The negative responses of the great and the good are disappointing. Bob Moncur says it would be unworkable. Why? Is he saying that 156,000 Catalans who make up the ‘socios’ are more committed than Geordies or that they are better organised than us? A little more faith in Newcastle fans, please Bobby.

“I’m just an ordinary working man but I would be prepared to scrape together £1,000 to have a share of the club I love and I am absolutely sure that I and thousands like me could work together to do a much better job than the present lot.”

Mr Lee, 45, who lives in the Midlands and has worked with the Government and one of the country’s top universities, is coordinating the scheme in England and said he was determined to prove those who questioned the plans wrong.

In The Journal yesterday former Newcastle captain Mr Moncur said the plans were ‘totally unworkable’.

Mr Lee said: “We are going to press on, no matter what some people have said. Some of the negativity expressed has been disappointing but we are going to prove people wrong with this. We are close to securing a couple of things which should help make the process much clearer.”